Possession
by Vorahk295
Summary: Things are looking up for the Freedom Fighters- Mecha Sally is free of Eggman's control, the fat scientist's empire is all but gone, and a Deroboticizer is almost complete. However, when some old faces arrive with a strange artefact, an ancient evil will awaken, and set in motion a plan to reclaim her body, by "borrowing" the use of someone else's.
1. Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

Morning, and a lone figure rushed around the meager room she slept in, packing as many things as she could into a case. She was a Mobian weasel, with purple fur and blue eyes, clad in a white crop top, black leggings, and white boots with black toecaps. She paused momentarily, as her eyes passed over a framed photo of her, with her arm around the shoulders of an auburn-furred vixen, both of them smiling. She picked the photo up, and put it in the case, before zipping it up.

_'__You know, Fi? You were right. It's time I made something of myself. I'm gonna fight the good fight, just like you.'_ She thought. She pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves, as well as a stetson, and slung a rifle over her shoulder, before turning to look at herself in the mirror. _'__Nic Weasel, Agent of G.U.N. has a nice ring to it.'_

She picked up the case, and headed outside, locking the door behind her as she went. She lugged it around to a fairly large hoverbike, and fixed it in place behind, before climbing on, and starting the engine, and riding off into the morning sun, heading north.

As she said, she was intending to join the Guardian Unit of Nations, having been inspired by her friend, Fiona Fox, and her actions as a Freedom Fighter, to take up the fight against the remains of Eggman's Empire. Really, it seemed to be coming apart at the seams now. Eggman had poured all of his resources into a new Death Egg, along with two weapons, the World Roboticizer, and the Genesis Wave Generator. The latter had been successful, but ultimately meaningless, since every use was reversed by Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds. The former had, despite its name, had a stunning total of one victim, Princess Sally Acorn, who had ultimately been freed from his control in short order, and was now in an ongoing effort to deroboticize her mechanical body.

Since then, his Empire had all but collapsed. His legions had all either been defeated, or turned against him once Mecha Sally's vengeful rampage had knocked out the doctor's link to the cherry bombs in their cybernetics. All he had left was the Death Egg, and the people onboard it. Not much of a threat, in Nic's mind, but still, he wasn't the only enemy Mobius faced.

She soon found herself on the outskirts of a city, and made her way towards the G.U.N recruitment office. She had applied before, and had already been accepted. Now she was returning to the office to be assigned a station. She stepped inside, and was brought through to the sergeant's office.

"Miss Weasel."  
"Sir."  
"We processed your data, and we were particularly impressed with your skill with firearms, as well as operating vehicles. It's been decided that you're going to be sent to the Guardian Unit of Nations' main headquarters for your training. We will escort you to the helicopter for the journey."  
"Thank you, sir." 

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Acornian capital, New Mobotropolis, the Freedom Fighters were assembling on the top floor of the city's research lab. The three scientists of the team, Miles "Tails" Prower, Nicole the Lynx, and Rotor Walrus, were making the final adjustments to what looked like a huge, glass cylinder. Off to the side was the form of Sally Acorn herself, still trapped in a mechanical body after Eggman had performed extensive modifications on her. Memories of the event still haunted her, both the look on the mad scientist's face, and the feeling of the blowtorch carving through her armour.

"What makes you so sure that it will work this time?" She asked, staring at her steel-plated hand.  
"Because I'm cheating." Nicole replied. "I'm using plans for a Roboticizer that shouldn't come into existence for another five years, and thus, we'll have to destroy it after use."  
"Uh, couldn't that have really bad side effects?" Sonic asked. "Time paradoxes and all that?"  
"Well, Eggman wasn't supposed to be able to reboot reality on this generation's technology. I'm bending the rules as much as he did."  
"Point taken."  
"And this one was built to work on weaponized Robians, I'm guessing?" Sally asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from Nicole.

A few minutes later, all three of them backed away from the machine, and the glass cylinder rose into the ceiling. Sally stepped towards it, and felt a hand clasp hers. She turned around, and saw Sonic smiling at her. She returned the sentiment, and pulled him into a gentle hug, careful to not injure him with her increased strength and hard outer shell.

"Good luck, Sal."  
"Thank you, Sonic."

The young couple released each other, and Sally stepped into the tube, watching it lower down over her head.

"So how exactly does this work?" She asked, as a blue light began glowing at the top of the machine.  
"Well, rather than triggering the usual explosion, non-organic metals in this roboticizer simply disintegrate. Then it uses Chaos Energy to heal the injuries left behind. This thing is running on Tails' entire supply of synthetic Emeralds. Nothing less was powerful enough." Rotor explained.  
"Now, when you're ready..." Tails prompted.  
"Go for it."

Nicole pulled the lever on the control panel, and the beam fired down into the tube. Sally's silhouette began to change shape, many of the sharp angles breaking up and giving way to softer curves. Eventually, the visible changes stopped, but the beam kept going.

"Deroboticization complete, healing in-progress." Tails read from the system.

Eventually, the beam faded, revealing the organic, but bare form of Sally, inspecting herself from as many angles as she could, which was aided by the reflective surface of the cylinder. A wide grin broke out on her face, as Nicole lifted the cylinder, and Sally found herself being immediately embraced by Sonic. The two kissed each other deeply, Sally pressing herself closer to Sonic's now-bulkier frame.

"That didn't take long." Amy sighed.  
"Ah think they've been waitin' for that since Sally-Girl got turned into a bot in the first place." Bunnie laughed.

Nicole snapped her fingers, and a cloud of nanites formed around Sally's feet and torso, shaping themselves into her standard boots and jacket. Eventually, they parted, and Sally hugged Nicole, Tails, and Rotor.

"Thank you." She said.  
"Hey, we can't take the credit." Rotor replied. "Nicole was the one with the plans, and the materials. We just followed her lead."  
"Still." Sally pressed. She released them, walked back over to Sonic, and hugged him again.

"Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten in four months, and honestly, I'm famished."  
"Oui, we must get you somezing to eat." Antoine nodded. "And I do believe zat celebrations are in order, no?"  
"You said it, Ant." Sonic grinned. "Let's party!" 

* * *

Several hours later, at the G.U.N base, Nic had met with her direct superior, in this case a middle-aged woman of Yurashian descent, to be assigned to her squad and quarters.

"Nicolette Weasel, reporting for duty, ma'am." She said, standing at attention.  
"At ease." The woman replied. "For agents like yourself, we prefer to assign you a mentor, with whom you will bunk, and work with on most of your initial missions. After looking through your background, as well as your prowess in training, we decided that you will be assigned to one of our top-ranking agents."  
"Yes ma'am. When will I meet him or her?"  
"She will be arriving shortly." The officer said. "Ah, here she is now."

Nic turned around, and was immediately greeted by a sight that was both unexpected and not entirely welcome: An ivory-furred bat with turquoise eyes and a form-fitting, figure-emphasizing outfit.

"Rouge?"  
"Well well well, if it isn't my old rival Nic."


	2. Chapter 2: Cold Reunion

Chapter 2: Cold Reunion

"What brings you up here, Nic?"  
"I decided to make something of my life and join an organisation to protect Mobius." Nic replied. "And being a Freedom Fighter didn't do it for me, so I joined G.U.N. What about you?"  
"I've been an agent for years, now. I my own team. Come on, I'll take you to them."  
"Oh, okay..."

Rouge led Nic through the base, pointing out various locations that the weasel tried and failed to commit to memory, eventually arriving at a door labelled 'Team Dark'.

"'Team Dark?' Really, Rouge?" Nic chuckled.  
"It wasn't my idea." Rouge said defensively, as she entered the code into the keypad. The door slid open, and the two women stepped in. There, they came face to face with Shadow the Hedgehog and E-123 Omega. "These are Shadow and Omega."  
"Nice to meet you." Nic smiled.  
"Same to you." Shadow nodded.  
"Salutations, purple forest creature." Omega droned.  
"My name is Nic the Weasel. I'm a new recruit, and they assigned me to Rouge."  
"Scans suggest that this is undesirable. Is there a problem, Nic?"  
"Rouge and I used to be rivals when we were both in the treasure-hunting gig. She beat me to every single treasure that we both knew about."  
"You didn't do too badly for someone who could fly over all the traps." The bat shrugged. "Sorry about all that, by the way. I had to eat, and all."  
"I get you. You know, in hindsight, we probably should have worked together. Those things were worth more than enough to feed five people, let alone a couple."  
"Yeah."

"So, what do you guys actually do?"  
"Whatever is required of us to fulfill our objectives and defend Northammer from Empire attack." Shadow replied.  
"Right, I can handle that."

At that moment, a screen in the room clicked on, and the face of Commander Abraham Tower appeared on it.

"Team Dark. We have received reports that the mercenary group the Destructix have been sighted in the Shamazon. Reportedly, a temple there has been found to contain an artefact of untold power, simply called the Goddess' Soul. They cannot be allowed to recover it. Be aware that interdimensional criminal, Scourge the Hedgehog appears to be at their helm. Over and out."

"Scourge, huh?" Shadow mused, pulling out his Chaos Emerald. "Last time we fought, I underestimated him. I won't do the same again."  
"Give that creep a punt where it hurts for me, will you?" Rouge asked.  
"I might."  
"So... who's actually on this Destructix team?" Nic asked.

Anti-Sonic the Hedgehog, of the Moebius Zone. Faster and stronger than his counterpart due to an accident with the Master Emerald. Less intelligent. Lacking in sanity. Womanizer. Lightning Lynx, of Chun-Nan. Fast, but not particularly strong or tough. Skilled as a ninja. Emotionally scarred. Flying Frog, of Mercia. Able to glide long distances. Mentally deranged psychopath. Uses his tongue to fight. Sergeant Simon Simian, of Northammer. Highly-trained soldier, little regard for his own allies in crossfire. Above-average strength. Predator Hawk, of Cocoa Archipelago. Also highly-trained, but weaker. Good pilot. Uses knives. Fiona Fox, of the Acorn Republic. Turncoat Freedom Fighter. Above-average strength, but mentally fragile." Omega rumbled.

"W-wait... Fiona?" Nic gasped. "She went turncoat?"  
"'Fraid so, Nic." Rouge sighed.  
"Damn, I thought I raised her better than that. She and I are going to have a little talk when we catch up to them."  
"You act like you're her mother." Shadow noted.  
"I'm the closest thing she had to one for much of her life."  
"Ah, I see now."  
"How'd she turn evil?"  
"Scourge seduced her, and twisted her mind, but don't worry, I have a dirty secret that should tear that little lie apart."  
"You and your dirty secrets..." Nic sighed. "Let's just go and get them. We'll have to be quick if we want to stop them before they get away."  
"You really are new here, aren't you?" Rouge chuckled. "Shadow can teleport us there in a few seconds thanks to his Chaos Control."  
"It takes a few trips to get used to, but you should be able to handle it. Now gather around." 

* * *

Arrival via Chaos Control was indeed disorienting, but Nic recovered relatively quickly, and the quartet set off to find the Destructix, hacking through thick jungle. Several times, Omega had to be prevented from torching the entire forest with his flamethrower or other incendiary weapons, but eventually, the thick trees gave way to a magnificent, rocky monolith. Standing outside were four figures- Scourge, Fiona, Predator, and Simian.

"I thought you said there were six of them." Nic whispered.  
"The Destructix change lineups like the rest of us change clothes." Rouge replied. "They're either gone or inside the temple."  
"Plan?"  
"Shadow will take Scourge. Omega, you take Simian. I can deal with Predator, and I think Nic wants a shot at Fiona."  
"Affirmative."  
"On my signal..."

Omega's hand retracted, and a beam cannon extended from the socket. He aimed it at Simian, and began charging up. Shadow prepared his Chaos Emerald, and Nic primed herself to make a beeline for her former friend.

"Go!" Rouge shouted, taking to the air, and heading straight for Predator. Shadow vanished, and reappeared in front of Scourge, roundhouse-kicking him across the clearing. Omega opened fire, blasting Simian into a tree, and vaulted the length of the area to land in front of him. The hawk saw his assailant coming, and took off, heading up to meet her, only to receive a boot to the face.

"What the hell?" Fiona growled, less than a second before she was body-checked by Nic.

"You and I need to have a little chat." Nic hissed, pinning her younger friend to the ground.  
"Nic? What are you doing here? And why are you working with these losers?"  
"I decided to follow your example and make something of myself, and none of the Freedom Fighter teams seemed to fit, so I joined G.U.N. Turns out I was good enough to be partnered with Rouge. And then I find out that you've thrown away all that progress and you're working with these low-lifes?"  
"Scourge isn't a low-life!" Fiona yelled, rolling over and taking Nic with her, before standing up, dusting herself off. "And let's be honest, you haven't got a hope against me. I'm stronger and faster than you."  
"Sis please." Nic shot back, springing back to her feet and kicking Fiona in the gut as she did so. "I taught you everything you know."

Near the edge of the clearing, Omega grappled with Simian, matching him strength-for-strength.

"For an organic, you are almost strong." Omega droned, pivoting at his waist and throwing Simian back into the wall of the temple. Then he flew after him, and blasted him with his beam cannon. The ape stumbled, and jumped up, punching the robot as hard as he could manage without breaking his hand, destabilizing his flight. Omega swerved wildly, and cut power to his engines, slamming back into the dirt. Instantly, Simian was on top of him, trying to shatter the robot's optics with his fists. The crimson titan instead drove his serrated claws into the primate's side, and clubbed him over the head with his forearm. "Almost."

Above their heads, Predator lashed out with a knife, but Rouge flew under him, and grabbed his leg, before spinning her whole body around and throwing him into a tree. She dropped after him, and delivered a painful kick to his midsection, then another to his head. Dazed, he fell out of the sky, smacked into quite a few tree branches on the way down, and finally crashed into the ground, knocked unconscious by the impact. She landed behind him, and cuffed his wrists together. Then she flew over to Omega's side, and did the same with Simian, before looking around for Nic and Fiona.

The two former friends could easily have been mistaken for pretending to fight. Every punch, every kick, ever tackle was easily predicted and avoided.

"Come on, Nic!" Fiona smirked. "If you were really this good, you'd have beaten me already! I'm using your moves, after all."  
"Sorry, but it's a little hard to bring myself to hit you." Nic growled.  
"Aw, how sweet." The vixen laughed. "Why's that, wimp?"  
"Because you're the closest thing to a little sister I ever had!" She shot back. Fiona was caught off guard by this, as Nic grabbed her by the shoulder-straps of her top and pinned her to a tree. "I raised you the best I could, and while we were criminals, I made sure you turned out better than this! The Fiona I knew would never throw her life and her accomplishments away for a slimy, lecherous creep like Scourge!"

Fiona growled, and kneed Nic in the gut, then pushed her away. The weasel stumbled, as her foe lunged at her again, only to be blindsided and snagged from the air by Rouge.

"Let me go!" Fiona yelled.  
"Sorry, but unless you fancy a fairly long and probably painful drop, I'm going to have to keep hold of you."  
"Rouge, I could have got her!" Nic shouted indignantly.  
"Sorry, but the others are about to show, according to Omega's sensors, and Shadow's busy with Scourge. I'm going to nip this little argument in the bud, and we can get back to the mission at hand. You two have your family tiff later."  
"Right." She nodded. "I'm guessing this is that "dirty secret" you mentioned?"  
"Yeah." Rouge smirked. "So, Fiona, there's something that you need to know, that you deserve to know, that's been kept from you."

"Oh yeah, and what is it?" Fiona replied, glaring at her rival.  
"Scourge cheated on you. Not only that, but he cheated on you with Bunnie, he went after Sally and Mina, and he cheated on you with me. Remember when we showed up in Knothole after he turned green for the first time. He couldn't take his eyes or his hands off of me. I'm surprised you didn't notice."  
"You're lying!"  
"I'm not. What do I have to gain by lying? Pass up another chance to beat your sorry tail into the dirt? Debase myself by admitting to consorting with someone like him? Yeah, right."  
"But..."  
"Didn't you ever wonder why nobody except you thinks of him as anything other than dirt? They all saw through his lies Fiona, but you got taken in by them. You were nothing more than a pretty face, and a trophy to hold above the heads of Sonic and Tails. And let's be honest, you knew all along. You just didn't want to admit to it."


	3. Chapter 3: Choices

Chapter 3: Choices

Fiona glared back up at Rouge, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

"Y-you..."  
"You can't even form a rebuttal." Rouge sighed, floating back to the ground, and releasing the vixen. "But if you don't believe me, ask him yourself."  
"Believe me, I will..."  
"Well, when Shadow stops beating him up." Nic added, putting her hand on Fiona's shoulder.

* * *

Sure enough, Scourge was currently being kicked around between treetops by Shadow. The dark hedgehog had surprised him with his initial attack, and before he had as much as an idea of what was happening to him, a fist connected with his ribcage with a sickening crunch, presumably the sound of a few ribs cracking, as the air was knocked out of him, and he was sent hurtling in another direction. He managed to open his eyes, and saw that he was in fact going up. Spinning himself, he managed to gain some semblance of form, and flared up Anarchy energy around his hands.

The sound of teleportation echoed somewhere nearby, and he had just enough time to register the sight of Shadow's foot swinging into his vision, before it collided with his face, shattering his sunglasses, and launching him away yet again. He tore the ruined shades from his face, and prepared himself for a long drop to the ground. The drop never came, though. Another strike landed in his side, and he was sent corkscrewing back through the air. Finally, Shadow's elbow dug into his gut, and he plummeted back into the ground, forming a sizable crater around himself.

"Pathetic." Shadow spat, kicking the other hedgehog in the side. "How did I ever lose to you?"  
Scourge spat a clump of dirt out, growling. "I'm wondering where you got so strong, Stripes."  
"My name is Shadow. You would do well to remember it. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm no Freedom Fighter. Nothing's stopping me from killing you right here."

"Stop!" A new voice echoed, and both hedgehogs looked over to see Fiona making her way over to them. There were wet streaks on her muzzle, but aside from that, she didn't look too badly affected by the fight.  
"No offence, FI, but I don't think he's gonna have much trouble pulping you as well."  
"I'm not here to save you, Scourge. Not necessarily. I need answers first. Mind if I cut in, Shadow?"  
"Make it quick."  
"Thanks."  
"So, what do you want to ask me, while I'm sitting here bleeding internally! Could use some help with this, you know."  
"Did you cheat on me?"

"W-what? Where'd you g-get that idea?" Scourge replied, his eyes widening, and a nervous smile appearing on his lips.  
"I know that look. You're lying! You told me that I was the only one! You told me that you'd stopped doing that! You convinced me to leave my home, my friends, my boyfriend, everything, so that that I could be with you! I gave up everything for you..." The vixen looked away, beginning to cry again, as Nic approached her, and pulled her into a gentle hug. The brunette's ears folded back, and she pulled herself close to her friend. "And it was all a lie."

Rouge gave Scourge a smirk, dripping with delight at the hedgehog's downfall, while Nic glared hatefully, and spat on him.

"Finish him, off, Shadow." She said.  
"No, wait..." Fiona cut in.  
"You've got to be kidding me..." Rouge said.  
"Let me finish. Don't kill him. Lock him up. Forever. No chance to get out. You can legally do that, he has no birth certificate in this world. Legally, he doesn't exist. He doesn't have any rights. Make him _suffer._"  
"Now you're talking, sis."

Shadow smirked, and hoisted Scourge into the air, then fired a Chaos Spear into his chest, blasting him into a tree, which he slid down, unconscious.

"Right, the others are in the temple. They should be out soon. With any luck, I can get them to come quietly."  
"That was an abrupt change." Rouge mused.  
"Everything I thought I knew for the past five years has been a lie, and I've ruined my own life because of it. If I ever want to be someone again, I have to face up to what I've done. So I'm nipping everything he was up to in the bud, and tying the loose ends before I accept what's coming to me."  
"Fair enough."

Fiona left the four agents, and headed over to the temple entrance, leaning against the doorway. Nic followed after her, and eventually, Team Dark joined them. It didn't take long for Lightning Lynx to appear, followed closely by Flying Frog, who had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Lightning was carrying a grey stone jar, marked with a few green crystals.

"What happened?" He asked, backing away from the new arrivals.  
"Change of plan, Lightning. Turns out Scourge was an unfaithful asshole who was just using me as some kind of ace over Sonic and Tails. So he's going to spend the rest of his life in a cell. I'm disbanding the team too, and the jar's going to go somewhere else for safekeeping. I'd advise doing as these people say, and coming quietly. I'll explain properly on the way."

* * *

Warping back to base was easy enough, though Frog ended up being cuffed almost immediately, due to his lack of coherence. Fiona, with help from Nic, explained the whole story to the lynx., who sighed sadly afterwards.

"Something the matter?" Nic asked.  
"Sorry, it's just that it reminds me of myself and Conquering Storm. She didn't cheat, but she sure as hell did use me, and threw me aside once I wasn't useful anymore."  
"What a bitch." The weasel said. "You don't need anyone like that."  
"Thank you."  
"So what do we do with this thing?" Rouge asked, holding the jar that contained the Goddess' Soul.  
"Well, first off, those crystals are just glass." Fiona said, immediately causing the bat's face to fall a little. "And second, if I recall correctly, Tails' uncle is a wizard. I'll take it with me when I turn myself in, and make sure it ends up in the right hands."  
"I'll come with you." Nic added, hugging the vixen again.  
"That sounds like a decent plan." Shadow nodded.

It was then that Omega walked back into the room, and approached Fiona.

"Fiona, you are required in the medical chamber. Your test results came back anomalous." He droned.  
"Anomalous?"  
"Follow me." The robot replied, before leaving. Fiona looked at Nic, who shrugged, and the two friends headed after the robot.

* * *

The doctor on-duty at this point was a Mobian bison, who was puzzling over the chart in his hand.

"What's the problem?" Fiona asked, as she was brought in.  
"There's a discrepancy." The doctor replied. "You said you were born in May, 3221, correct?"  
"Yes, on the 26th."  
"Well, your results say you can't be older than sixteen."  
"That's crazy! I'm twenty-one!"  
"Mentally, maybe. But biologically, you haven't aged a day since that point."  
"How can that be?" Nic asked, as Fiona looked down at her body, then up at her friend, noting that she was indeed smaller than she should have been.

"I might be able to answer that." Came the voice of Shadow. The duo turned around, as the hedgehog walked into the room, followed by Rouge. "Since I wanted to gain a proper understanding of what I can actually do with my powers, and what affect they will have on me, I ended up talking extensively with Tails about the subject. He had a lot of theories as to what energy from other worlds could do to people, and he usually used you or Scourge as examples. Increased strength and altered colouration has been displayed by both of you, for example, and he blames your exposure to foreign energy for it. One of the symptoms he suggested to be possible was that the body stops aging, and that seems to be the case. Scourge was shorter than I remember Sonic being as well."

"How bad can it be?" She asked.  
"We don't know. According to him, it could be anything from nothing but your colours altering, to as much as massive hemorrhaging or even death. Luckily, it doesn't seem to have gone that far with you."  
"Right... will I recover, or is my body like this forever?"  
"I don't know. You'll have to ask him when you arrive there."  
"Yeah." 

* * *

An hour later, Fiona opened up her Warp Ring, and walked towards it with Nic. She carried the jar under her arm, and stepped through the portal, into her old home, Knothole village.

Or rather, what was left of it. The entire area was empty now, save for the mound which Freedom HQ had been dug into. The once-huge trees that had hidden the village were now gone, with little more than a multitude of saplings in their place. The grass looked a lot fresher and newer than it had before, and here and there, the shape of a hut's foundations could be seen.

"Holy crap..." Fiona muttered. "What happened here?"  
"You must've been on Moebius or something at the time, but Eggman nuked the whole place."  
"Oh... oh my gods..."

* * *

Inside Freedom HQ, the Freedom Fighters were still in the midst of their party. Most of them were laughing at the fact that, for someone famed for his agility and quick feet, Sonic was an absolutely _terrible_ dancer, and it was only a combination of luck and her own nimble movements that Sally had avoided many a crushed toe.

"I think I've got it this time!" The blue blur announced.  
"Sonic, please, stop trying before you embarrass yourself." Tails chuckled. "Well, any more than you already have."  
"No way, Tails. Sonic the Hedgehog never gives up!"  
"Seriously, Sugah-Hog. Even Ah can do better than that. And Ah'm a little... clunky." Bunnie added.  
"Silence, non-believer! I will master this, or my name isn't Sonic the Hedgehog!"  
"Sweetie, isn't your name-" Sally began.  
"We do not talk about that. I had it legally changed. My name is Sonic. Period."

"Um..." Nicole cut in. "Not to spoil everything, but I just detected Warp Ring activity directly outside. And it isn't Knuckles."  
"Darn." Amy sighed. "Guess we'd better put proceedings on hold."  
"No, you keep having fun. We'll go and see what the situation is." Sally said, leading Sonic away. "The dancefloor is safe to use now."

The young couple linked arms, and headed out of the door, walking towards the interlopers. Needless to say, they weren't expecting to see Nic comforting a rather nervous-looking Fiona.

"What are you two doing here?" Sally demanded, glaring at them, particularly Fiona.

"I work for G.U.N. now." Nic glared back protectively, but Fiona put the urn on the ground, and stepped around her friend.

"Things have changed with me." She said quietly, little more than a whisper. "I found out what everyone else already knew... Scourge was cheating on me, and using me, and my whole life for the past five years has been a lie. So I decided to try and make things better, to atone for my fuckups, and start over. So... I'm here to turn myself in, on one condition: No prison. Claustrophobia and all."

The hedgehog and squirrel looked at each other, and shrugged.  
"Yeah, okay." Sonic nodded.  
"What's in the jar?"  
"It contains a powerful... thing... called the Goddess' Soul. We decided to make sure it ended up in the right hands, after Finitevus hired the Destructix to get it, and I thought Tails' uncle could do it."  
"We'll make sure it gets to him, once we ascertain that it's safe." Sally said.  
"What happened to the other Destructix?"  
"Shadow beat up Scourge, Rouge took out Predator, that robot guy defeated Simian, and I convinced Lightning and Frog to come quietly. Frog's in a padded cell, but Lightning seems to be trying to decide what to do with himself."

"I see. Well, we should probably inform the others that you're back, and repentant and all." Sonic said.  
"Yeah." Fiona nodded. "Can Nic come too?"  
"I guess." Sally shrugged.  
"We were having a party to celebrate deroboticizing Sally, so they might not be pleased at the interruption."  
"They weren't going to b- wait, what? You got turned into a bot?"  
"It was that or let half of Mobius get it." Sally sighed. "In hindsight, I was too rash, too desperate to fix it, and I could probably have done better by listening to Nicole, and I paid the price. The sick bastard weaponized me, while I was conscious, and Nicole had to cheat and use a machine that shouldn't exist yet to change me back."  
"That's horrible."

Carrying the jar meant that Fiona's hands were full, something that, in hindsight, she didn't really want when entering a room full of the Freedom Fighters that she betrayed. Unsurprisingly, she immediately found herself diving to avoid a strike from Amy, dropping the urn by mistake. She scrabbled to get to her feet, and looked over her shoulder to see that Nic was pressing down on the hammerhead with her foot, stopping Amy from lifting it.

"Leave my sister alone." Nic growled.  
"Ames, relax." Sonic said. "She's had a change of heart, and she's here to turn herself in."  
"And I don't need my skull cracked open added to my list of problems." Fiona sighed, looking around for the urn.

"Here." Said a gentle, smooth, calm voice asked her. She looked up to see the urn, being held out to her by a tall, golden-furred fox, with burning blue eyes, broad shoulders, thick fur on his chest and head, and, most notably, two tails.

"T-Tails?"  
"Yeah?"  
"You're looking... er... different."  
"Thanks." He smiled, showing his sharp, white teeth, as he handed the urn back to Fiona.  
"Th-thank you..."  
"You're welcome." Tails said, before walking back to his couch. She watched him go, silently cursing her hormones as she did so. 

* * *

That evening, the urn was placed in a vault, ready for Merlin Prower's arrival to pick it up. Nic had returned to the G.U.N base, while Fiona had been placed under Nicole's watchful eye.

However, Fiona's dropping of the jar earlier had not left it undamaged. A crack in it started to glow from within, as a small, wispy flame forced its way out. It twisted, then floated away, heading for the palace.


	4. Chapter 4: Caught up in a Dream

Chapter 4: Caught up in a dream

It had been two weeks since Nic had brought Fiona back to Knothole, and the vixen was currently under the watchful eye of Nicole, and, if Nicole wasn't around, she was kept under house arrest. She'd passed the time by continuing her medical studies, and had received regular visits from Nic, Sally, and, naturally, Tails.

Currently, she was pouring over another textbook, while the Freedom Fighters were on a mission. Soon, however, Nicole materialised in the room.

"You really need to start knocking." Fiona said sarcastically.  
"Sorry. Apparently, I'm supposed to just barge in to make sure you aren't hiding anything. I don't see the point, in all honesty. I can sense your vitals, and I can tell if you are, but appearances have to be kept up."  
"Yeah." The vixen shrugged. "So I take it the mission's over?"  
"Yes."  
"What was this one?"  
"Well, come to the lab, and I will show you."  
"Okay."

Fiona closed the book, and pulled on her boots. She'd gone back to her old style since returning to her old friends, since she'd always felt more comfortable, and honestly, not having to dress up in less-then-modest clothing to please Scourge was a release. People still seemed to be avoiding her, but she didn't blame them for it.

The journey to the lab was thankfully uneventful, so she decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, aside from the mysterious objective, how did the mission go?"  
"It was fairly easy. There was a token resistance from Eggman, but he's fallen pretty far since the incident with Mecha Sally."  
"Good."  
"There was... one thing, though..."  
"What?"  
"Sally had a... dizzy spell, during the mission. She's been complaining about headaches and tiredness lately. She's probably just overworking herself, as usual, but I'm still worried. The others are too, and with Quack out of town..."  
"Hey, why don't I take a look at her after we're done at the lab?"  
"That would be much appreciated."

Soon after, they arrived, stepping through the sliding door into the sterile, immaculate building. The two stood in the lift, and made their way up to the top floor, heading out into the expansive main laboratory. The semi-dismantled Roboticizer stood in the corner, and the other Freedom Fighters were clustered around a table on the other side of the room. Something Mobian-sized was on it, covered by a sheet.

"Whoa, have you got a body under there?"  
"Something like that." Nicole smiled.  
"Good you two made it." Sally said. Fiona couldn't help but notice the bags under the squirrel's eyes, and her slightly glazed eyes, but decided to leave her concerns for the impromptu checkup later. "No more incidents?"  
"Thankfully none."  
"Good to hear, Fiona." Tails broke in.  
"Th-thanks..." Fiona replied, turning away, just in case she was blushing. It wasn't just that Tails had become rather handsome, in her mind. It was that, despite the way she had treated him, he was still being genuinely kind, and looking out for her. Even before things had fallen apart between her and Scourge, she wasn't proud of what she'd done, but now she was feeling more guilty than ever. "So, er, what did you find?"

Nicole grinned, and pulled the sheet away, revealing a gold-coloured robot, with bronze accents. Its proportions were Mobian. It had three circles on its chestplate, and a jetpack on its back. It had a three-pronged crest on its forehead, and a third, closed optic sensor at the base of that.

"So, er, what did you find?" Fiona repeated, causing Nicole's shoulders to sag slightly.  
"It's an ancient robot, called a Gizoid. They're supposedly able to copy any fighting ability they see, even to the point of somehow producing replicas of weapons. We had to keep it out of Eggman's hands, and, well, I've always wanted to study one of these."  
"However, they're supposed to be sentient." Tails added. "Which makes things a whole lot more interesting."  
"Wow, cool." Fiona. "But do you really want to turn it on? It's probably dangerous."  
"If I can form a link with it, or Sonic can, or someone else, and then it will be loyal to them." Nicole explained. "Then it'll be perfectly safe."  
"Right."

* * *

Later, Fiona returned home, followed by Sonic, Sally, and Nicole. The couple had come along on Nicole's suggestion. They sat down on the couches, with Fiona taking a few of her books and leafing through them.

"So, Nicole told me that you've been having dizzy spells, headaches, and tiredness." Fiona said. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"  
"Yes, I've been going to sleep before Sonic lately."  
"Hm..."  
"But... I have been getting a fever... and... seeing that robot reminded me of something..."  
"Oh?"  
"I had... I had a dream last night. I can barely remember it, but there was this figure, and... they had a third eye in the middle of their forehead."  
"You think it was the Gizoid?" Sonic asked.  
"I don't know... but the eyes were black, with green irises, and I... I couldn't look away."  
"Hmm... well, the Gizoid has blue optics, so it's probably not that." Fiona said. "Besides, you didn't even know about it until this morning. How long have you been having these symptoms?"  
"About two weeks now, and... and... I... I'm sorry, I need to go to the bathroom for a second." The squirrel said, standing up, and walking out of the room.

She stumbled, dazed, into the bathroom, and locked the door behind her, before resting her back against it. She touched the back of her hand to her forehead, feeling the intense heat radiating through her.

'I'm burning up...' She thought. '... and my head... it's killing me...'

She forced herself upright, and stepped over to the sink, running the tap and filling up the plastic tumbler she and Sonic used during their morning ablutions.

"Hey, Sal, you okay in there?" The blue hedgehog's voice echoed from the other side of the door, wracked with worry.  
"I have a fever, and a headache, but don't worry, it's probably nothing serious. I'll take some aspirin, and be out shortly." She replied, turning back to face her reflection. This time, however, something was amiss with her reflection.

In the middle of her forehead, where the hot sensation was at its worst, there was a glowing green gemstone, almost ovular in shape. She raised her hand to her face again, but felt nothing. Screwing up her eyes, and rubbing them, Sally looked back at her reflection, only to see the stone gone.

"What the..." Sally muttered. "Must've been seeing things..."

She knocked back the water, and then refilled the glass, before taking two pills from the cupboard, the door of which held the mirror, and swallowing them. Then she took another drink, and sighed, closing the cupboard door, only to come face to face with another twisted reflection.

The figure in the mirror still had the same body as her, and was mimicking her pose, but she was grinning, the stone was in the middle of her forehead again, and her eyes were completely black, with green irises.

"Hello, Princess." She said, a forked tongue lashing out of her mouth briefly.  
"Wh-who are you?" Sally gasped. "What are you?"  
"My name... you will know soon enough. As for what I am... I am Mobius' reckoning, and I am here because I have chosen you to be my vessel."  
"Reckoning?" Sally parroted. "That can't be anything good."  
"Au contraire, my dear royal partner. Mobius has become chaotic, tortured, plagued. The planet is sick, Princess, and I need your help to restore it. To cleanse it."

"You sound like Finitevus. Find someone else to be your vessel." Sally spat.  
"Oh, that mad doctor is part of the problem. He thinks too small. I do intend to purge the world, yes, but I also intend to restore it to the way it should be. No wars, no strife. Just eternal, blissful peace." The reflection said. "Does that not appeal to you?"  
"It does sound pretty good, but how do I know that I can trust you? Because right now, I don't. You sound crazy, and the ends don't justify the means. You sound like you're going to kill everything."

"An excellent question, my dear vessel. In truth, you don't know... but I can show you. The is a slight catch, though."  
"And what's that?"  
"You need to come into my realm to see it." The reflection moved her hand, and pressed it against the other side of the glass. "Put your hand on mine, and I shall show you the truth."

Sally looked around herself, and considered reaching out to the hand, then scolded herself internally. There was no way this could be real, was there? She was somehow negotiating with a hallucination. Still, maybe following 'her' request would let her wake up faster...

Sally sighed, and pressed her hand against her relfection's. Immediately, the surface of the mirror rippled, and Sally gasped as she saw her mirrored self's fingers pushed through it and wrapped around her hand. Then she gave a tug, and Sally screamed as she was pulled straight through the mirror.

* * *

When she came to, she was seated on a rooftop in Robotropolis, the old Robotropolis at that, but as alive as it ever could have been. Her mirror counterpart was standing near the edge. Rubbing her head and fighting disorientation, Sally approached her.

"What's going on?"  
"I am showing you the truth about Mobius. It is ruled by fear and oppression..." Now they were on another rooftop, overlooking the city as it was ten years prior. "... money, classes, and decadence..." Now they were in Albion. "... segregation and xenophobia..." And then overlooking the shrine of the Master Emerald in the Hidden Palace "... and heresy and sacrilege!"

"I... never saw it that way..." Sally admitted, as her doppelganger laid an arm around her shoulders.  
"Then let this be an eye-opener for you, Princess." The reflection said softly, gently, turning Sally's head to face her. The gem in her forehead looked almost... eye-like, and it was positively radiant in the dark, a pulsing, inviting green light, that was beginning to reflect in the young squirrel's field of vision. "Tell me, Sally... do you see the light now?"  
"I... I do..."  
"And what must be done to Mobius, in order to rectify this torrid state of affairs?"  
"It... must be... purified..."

The figure grinned, releasing Sally, and stepping back.

"Good girl... I see I made the right choice when I picked you to be my vessel. Truly, you are worthy of looking upon my true form, the form of your new liege, your true goddess... Iblis."

The mirror-Sally's tail immediately grew at an incredible rate, taking on the appearance of orange-red scales. It grew thicker and longer, and rested on the ground, lifting her body up off of it. Her legs lost a lot of mass, until they matched her arms, then snapped forwards. Her boots burned away, revealing a second pair of hands, and her new arms pulled up her torso, stopping at what was once her armpits. The jewel sunk into her head, forming an eye identical to her other two, as a fiery aura surrounded her. When it faded, her fur was gone, replaced my more scales, and a large hood stretched from her head to her upper back.

Sally fell to her knees before the majestic, but twisted form of Iblis, as the goddess slithered over to her, resting two of her hands on Sally's shoulders, and pulled her to her feet, as her tail began to coil around the girl.

"Do you know what you must do now, Vessel?"  
"Yes, Almighty Iblis. I will gladly offer my body up to you, so that you may use it to begin the great cleansing of Mobius' sins..." Sally murmured, her eyes now glowing green.  
"Perfect... now, your friends may feel alienated by my actions while I am in control of your body, but do not fear... they shall thank you and praise you a thousandfold once the world is purged of its impurities... They shall adore you for doing your holiest of duties..."  
"Yes, Almighty Iblis..." Sally smiled as Iblis finished coiling her, up to her shoulders.

"Good vessel. Now... open wide." Iblis commanded, holding Sally's helpless form closer to her own. Sally obeyed, and Iblis' forked tongue extended, plunging down Sally's throat. Her eyes rolled back into her head, as her eyes began to turn black, and a green glow started to emanate from her forehead.

* * *

Back within the bathroom, Sally's body was flung back from the mirror, and she fell against the wall, rubbing her head. She stood upright, and smiled her her reflection, with the gem in her forehead, and the green eyes with black sclerae. She looked down at her hand, and snapped her fingers, causing a small fireball to appear in her palm. It felt warm, but it didn't burn her skin or fur, much to her delight. 'Sally' extinguished the fire, and opened the window, climbing out, and crawling up onto the roof, somehow without any real handholds. She looked down at the disgusting, decadent city below her and spat on the surface next to her.

"Prepare yourselves, Mobius..." She hissed. "Iblis is home."


	5. Chapter 5: Discovery

Chapter 5: Discovery

Back in Fiona's living room, Sonic was becoming more worried. He zipped over to the bathroom door, and knocked on it.

"Sal? Sal, are you okay? Sally?" He called, only to receive no response. "Sally!"  
"Sonic? What are you doing?" Fiona asked, walking out into the corridor with him.  
"Sal's not responding, I think she might be hurt, or out cold, or something!"  
"Oh, right. Well, kick the door in!"  
"Are you sure?"  
"Making sure Sally's okay or preserving a door? Really?"  
"Right, okay." Sonic nodded. "Sal, if you can hear me, get away from the door!"

Sonic slammed his foot into the door, then did it again, knocking it open. It swung open, revealing the room to be empty.

"Sally?"  
"Where is she?" Fiona asked rhetorically. "Wait, the window's open... is she out on the ledge, or the roof, or something?"  
"I'll go check. You stay here."

Sonic climbed onto the windowledge, and looked up, seeing Sally's legs dangling over the side. He jumped up, and landed next to her.

"Sal?"  
"Yes Sonic?" She replied. The squirrel was seated, staring out over the city. She seemed to have an expression of mild disgust on her face, and her eyes had a slight greenish tinge.  
"What are you doing up here?"  
"I felt like getting some fresh air."  
"Right. You gonna be okay?"  
"I will." Sally smiled at him, before turning back to face the city again, standing up. "Look at it, Sonic."  
"At what?"  
"The city."  
"What about it?"  
"It's corrupt, Sonic."  
"Corrupt?"  
"Yes. It's being eaten alive from within, by idiots willing to do anything for a paycheck, and the people are slowly but surely submitting to decadence. It's vile, and it has to be stopped. It has to be purified."  
"Sally... you're kinda scaring me." Sonic said, backing away from her slightly. She turned to face him, smiling like she always did when she was in a playful mood, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her head on his chest.

"I don't mean too, my love." She sighed, as Sonic returned the gesture. "Don't worry, though... everything will become clear in a moment."

Sonic gave Sally a look, but she ignored it, and kissed him. Moving one of her hands, she conjured a small flame, and pressed it against Sonic's heart. The hedgehog's eyes had been closed, enjoying his make-out with his girlfriend, but they opened, wide, when he felt the scorching in his chest.

"Sal, what are you-?" He gasped, only for Sally to hush him, pressing her finger against his lips. She opened her eyes, and the hedgehog recoiled, when he saw the green irises and black sclerae. Her fringe had parted, revealing the glowing, eyelike, jade stone embedded in her forehead.  
"You will see the light, like I have."

Sonic twisted, pulling himself away from her grasp, and rubbed his mildly-burnt pectoral. He glared at her, as she walked towards him, smiling seductively.

"Who are you?!"  
"Are you feeling alright, Sonic? It's me, Sally."  
"No, Sal's eyes are blue, and... normal! She doesn't have a stone in the middle of her face, and she doesn't have powers! And she certainly wouldn't describe the city the way she did! What are you? An impostor? Or some sick freak taking Sal's body for a joyride?"

"Well, aren't you a curious one? You needn't worry about Sally, Sonic. She is perfectly fine. She offered me the use of her body, to complete my mission, like a good little vessel, and she will be returned to you when the two of us are done with our duty."  
"What are you!?"  
"I suppose deserve to know who it is that Sally is working with. My name is Iblis, and I am going to purge this world of all that is driving it into the pits. With Sally's assistance, it will be done all the easier. But I can see that you aren't as smart as her, so I'd better be on my way. You'll only hinder me, and I can't afford that."

Iblis' vile green eyes faded back to Sally's normal blue, and she grinned wildly.

"Sal, come on, you have to fight her off, before-"  
"No, Sonic..." Sally replied, as a blazing aura surrounded her body. "I must do my duty for Almighty Iblis. Sit tight, my darling. My work will be done in time."  
"Sal!"

Sonic ran towards her, but Sally floated up into the air, looking down at him.

"I hope you can understand my reasoning. I'm going to make Mobius a better place, in Her name. Then we will be together, forever."  
"Sally, please-" Sonic called, only to be cut off once more, as the squirrel's body vanished in a tremendous burst of flames. "- don't..."

The hedgehog fell to his knees, and slammed his fist into the roof, ignoring the pain.

_'__Sal... I'm so sorry... I failed you again...'_

* * *

Far away, Sally reappeared, hovering above the ocean. In front of her was the last bastion of the Eggman Empire, the Death Egg. As she hovered, the gem pulsed brightly. Sally began to feel Iblis' warm, thick tail coiling her once more, two hands on her shoulders, and another two cradling her head.

"Why did you want me to bring us here, Almighty Iblis?"  
"Do you remember what the denizens of that satellite did to you, my dear?" The serpent replied, and, like with the tail and the hands, Sally felt her new ally's tongue tickling her ear.  
"Yes."  
"They turned you into a mindless drone, cut you open with a torch, and pulled you apart. They filled your cavities with weapons, and welded you shut, with new armour to hide the marks."  
"I remember..."  
"And what did you do to them in return?"  
"I used the same weapons Eggman intended to use to further his empire to crush it."  
"But what did you do to the man himself?"  
"Nothing..."

"That is why we are here, Sally. We are here to rectify your mistake. You should have killed him."  
"I should?"  
" You should have made an example of him."  
"I should..."  
"You should have given him what he deserved."  
"Yes, you are right, Almighty Iblis, as always." Sally nodded, green and black rings spiralling through her eyes.  
"Why didn't you kill him?"  
"Out of some warped sense of self-righteousness... Out of some effort to keep the moral high ground over him."  
"And what do you think of that reason now?"  
"It's foolish." She spat, clenching her fists, flames pouring around her fingers. "The only righteousness that I need now is yours, Almighty Iblis. I only need to carry out your plans. To eradicate the flaws. To cleanse Mobius."  
"Good girl... yes, you are a good girl. A good girl who obeys her goddess."  
"Thank you, Almighty Iblis."  
"Now, you may start the cleansing, by removing Doctor Robotnik and his Dark Egg Legion."  
"By your command, Almighty Iblis."

Sally vanished in another wave of heat and flame, reappearing in front the Death Egg's fuel tanks. She pressed her hands against one of them, and channelled her newfound fire powers into it. A few seconds later, the tank exploded, as did the fuel lines, and the other tanks, setting off a chain reaction of blasts, heading for the engines. The whole room was going up in flames. Sally warped herself away again, and materialized where she had floated before.

"Well done, my dear." Iblis hissed, as the feeling of her tail, hands, and tongue returned. "You have done well indeed."  
"Thank you, Almighty Iblis." Sally swelled with pride, as she watched the battle station explode violently, taking everyone on board with it.  
"And how does it feel to have powers now?"  
"It feels amazing..."  
"I knew you would like it. I gave them to you so that we can easily accomplish our mission."  
"And what is our mission, if I may ask, Almighty Iblis?"  
"We are going to recover my body, so that I can do my work. You will be kept safe and warm within my embrace, while I finish the purification of this world. Then, you will be released to enjoy your life, in a utopia under the eternal sun. Essentially, you are helping me to help you."  
"It sounds wonderful, Almighty Iblis."  
"Good to hear. Now, your friends will be trying to separate us. They don't understand the righteousness of our quest. We can't have that now, can we? We need a distraction. You mentioned Doctor Finitevus? He will be a major assistance to us."  
"I thought you said that he thought too small..."  
"Well, we'll just have to broaden his horizons, then, won't we?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mobotropolis, the other Freedom Fighters had arrived at Fiona's home, upon hearing the distressing news about Sally.

"It... it must've been that thing in her nightmare!" Sonic growled.  
"What 'thang', Sugah-Hog?" Bunnie asked.  
"She said that she had a nightmare, where she saw a figure with three green eyes. Well, that 'Iblis' thing had green eyes while it was controlling her, and she had a green gemstone that looked like an eye in her forehead. It must've been Iblis that she saw..."  
"We can find her, right?" Rotor spoke up.  
"I have her life-signal." Nicole replied. "But now that she can seemingly fly and teleport, tracking her will be hard."  
"I can't believe that we lost her again, so soon after we turned her back into an organic..." Tails said sadly.

They continued to sit there, in relative silence, while each one tried to come up with a way to help their possessed leader.

"Wait a sec." Fiona said. "What did you guys do with the Goddess' Soul?"  
"We put it straight into storage, mademoiselle." Antoine replied. "Why do you ask?"  
"Because Iblis is the name of the mythical Goddess of Fire, and that thing was warm to the touch, it had fire engraved on it, and the gems on it were green, and Sally only started having trouble after I delivered it to you."  
"You think that whatever is controlling Sally is the real Iblis, and she came here in that jar?" Amy asked.  
"Yeah."  
"One moment please." Nicole spoke up, before fading out, reappearing in the vault. She surrounded the urn with a shield bubble, and carefully used her nanites to remove the lid, before looking inside. She paled when she saw that the urn was completely empty, and noticed the crack in its side.

She returned to Fiona's house in a flash of pixels.

"I think Fiona's right." She announced. "The urn is empty, and there's a crack in it."  
"Iblis must've gotten out through there... But it couldn't have been there when we retrieved it from the temple, or, provided that Iblis requires a female host, it would be me, Nic, or Rouge flying, teleporting, and trying to set our loved ones on fire." Fiona said.  
"I guess it was damaged after that point..." Amy said. "Oh gods, you dropped it when I tried to attack you! It must have been broken then! It's... it's my fault!"  
"No, it isn't." Tails cut in. "None of us had any idea that Iblis was in that thing, nor did we know that Iblis could possess people's bodies, and even then, Sally managed to hide this for a week, and only remembered Iblis' appearance in her dream, just before she was taken over. It's not your fault."

"So... now what?" Sonic asked. "How do we free her from Iblis?"  
"We'd have to, in Iblis' own terms, 'purify her', and force it from her body with something else. What it is, however, I don't know." Nicole replied.  
"Well, for now, we need all the help we can get. Fi, I want you to call Nic and the others. Nicole, we need to turn on that robot."


	6. Chapter 6: The Gathering

Chapter 6: The Gathering

In Knothole's lab, a Warp Ring flashed open, and the whole Freedom Fighter team filed through, followed by Fiona, who closed the ring, and pocketed it.

"Thanks for giving that back, Nicole." She said. "Now, let's get the Gizoid up and running."  
"Right. I've already been in contact with him, while he's been in standby, to make sure he won't go berserk when I wake him. He can't remember his name, but I decided to call him "Emerl." He's running on auxiliary at the moment, but if I put his core back in, he should come online immediately."

Nicole floated over to the table on which the Gizoid lay, and pressed her hand against his chestplate. It glowed briefly, and she quickly retracted it as the whole plate lifted up, revealing the Spark Chamber, which was closed off by another two plates, which parted, opening out to reveal two gaps, one above the other. She moved away from it, and picked up a glass cylinder with a blinding green light within it, holding it at arm's length.

"Whoa!" Amy gasped. "What is that?"  
"A Chaos Drive." Tails replied. "I use them to power most of my tech, fueled from my own reserves, but I've never seen one that bright..."  
"I tested this one, and, unlike the ones we use, which need a recharge every now and then, this one's power seems to be limitless, although it can only draw on so much at a time." Rotor explained. "It's likely that there's a Chaos artefact of some kind in there, but no-one's going to volunteer to open it up and find out if they know what's good for them."

While they had been having this discussion, Nicole had once more crossed the room, and positioned the drive directly over the lower hole. She pushed it in slowly, carefully, making sure it lined up properly, and listened for the muted click of it locking into place. As soon as it sounded, the body jerked, as the hole above it was filled with pulsing, cyan light. His hands clenched into fists, as his chestplate closed up, the three circles on it lighting up in the same blue glow, the same with the ones on his shoulder plate. His optics sensors opened, matching the tint, as he stood up, a huge aura flaring up around him.

Nicole floated back, watching carefully as the aura faded, and the robot's shoulders sagged, along with his arms. He looked up, carefully looking around his surroundings, before dusting himself off and allowing the white plate on the bottom of his face to split apart, revealing a pair of technorganic-looking lips, covered by a malleable metal alloy.

"Whoa, now that was all kinds of trippy." He said. His voice was youthful, calm, expressive. The third optic at the base of his crest opened, and he looked over all of the assembled Freedom Fighters. "Nicole? Which one of you is Nicole?"

"I am."The lynx stepped forward, smiling.  
"Er, wow, you, um, look... different to, er, what I imagined." He said. "A-and by that I mean Mobian."  
"Thank you. Truth be told, I'm actually an AI. There's some Mobian in me, but that's a story best saved for another time."  
"Oh right, okay. So... why am I awake?"  
"We have a dire situation, and we'd like your help."  
"I see. Well, I'm sure I can be of assistance with something."  
"Our friend, and leader, Sally Acorn, has lost control of her body to a malevolent entity."  
_'__I know the feeling...'_  
"However, it's not as simple as it sounds. The entity in question is Iblis, the Goddess of Fire, and she's warped Sally's mind and twisted her to her own ideals. We have to get her back and, well, essentially exorcise her. We'd like your help. While I would have preferred to complete my studies and get the all-clear from the council before activating you, these are desperate times."  
"Sure, you can count on me." The Gizoid said, hopping off the table. "Well, provided that I can get some new moves."  
"Certainly. Sonic, Tails, demonstrate. Fiona, go and call Nic." 

* * *

Meanwhile, on Angel Island, in a secret, hidden lair, a white-furred echidna was seated in an armchair, scowling, as he waited for news from the Destructix to return with the Goddess' Soul. He didn't expect it to be that hard to retrieve, yet here he was, with no news. Sighing, he stood up, and headed for the door.

"If you want something done right, do it yourself." Finitevus sighed.  
"I quite agree, Doctor."

He froze, reaching out through the ether to try and sense who it was that had somehow invaded his base without him noticing, with no fanfare, in the past minute, no less. Immediately, he smelt and tasted the acrid smell of smoke, and felt a blazing warmth... exactly the feeling he had been expecting to get from the Soul. Turning around, he realised that his chair was now occupied by Sally, who had lit a tiny flame on her fingertip.

"The Acorn Princess?" He mused, flicking a Warp Ring into his hand, ready for a fight. "If I had known I was receiving such illustrious company, I would have prepared. What is your business with me?"  
"I want to talk to you about your plan." Sally replied, standing up, as her eyes immediately changed, turning into the black-sclerad eyes of of Iblis. "And my name is Iblis."

Finitevus relaxed, stowing the ring, and approaching her.

"Iblis? As in, The Cleanser, Iblis?"  
"The very same."  
"And you are inhabiting the body of a Freedom Fighter... I like the way you do things."  
"Thank you."  
"So, what is it that you intend to ask me?"  
"Well, let's say that you succeed. Mobius is razed to the ground by Chaos fire. What do you do then?"  
"Pardon?"  
"You've won. You've purged Mobius. So now you have nothing left to live for. Your plan may succeed, but you will have rendered your existence meaningless. You will have no purpose. But I can give you a purpose. Our objectives line up- both of us want to cleanse this decadent world, but that's where your plan stops. Mine continues. I will rebuild it to be perfect, and you can assist me with that. With both halves, actually."  
"How so?"  
"As you rightly noted, I am currently inhabiting the body of Princess Sally. Naturally, the Freedom Fighters will want to get her back. I need to keep them occupied, while my plan continues. This is where you come in. You will retrieve the Destructix, what is left of them, that is, from the G.U.N base, thus providing the Freedom Fighters with something else to take care of."  
"I see, so that's what happened to them. And what do you mean "what's left of them?""  
"Fiona and Lightning both turned against them. Fiona is with the Freedom Fighters again, and Lightning is with G.U.N. Now, are you in?"  
"You have a deal."

Iblis raised her borrowed hand, and pressed her fingertip against the yellow crystal embedded in Finitevus' forehead. Immediately, they were engulfed in flames, and the mad echidna groaned with surprise and pain. After a few seconds, the fire faded, revealing that both the crystal and Finitevus' irises were now green, like hers.

"Ah... thank you." He smirked, as Iblis stepped back, smiling. "I shall go and retrieve the Destructix."  
"Good. I'm going to require the use of your computer."  
"Very well."

* * *

Within the lower chambers of the G.U.N. headquarters, multiple prisoners reclined in cells. Grouped together in one of them were the four remaining Destructix. They'd been sitting there for a while, when suddenly two black Chaos Spears struck the guards standing outside of their cell, impaling them. Each spear had travelled from opposing ends of the cell block, and the cause became apparent, as Finitevus stepped through a Warp Ring, into the cell.

"Doc!" Scourge grinned. "Never thought I'd see you here."  
"What's up with your eyes?" Predator asked.  
"Nothing worth worrying about. I have made a new ally, and she has use for you. Thus, I'm going to bring you to her, so that her plan may move forward."  
"Why are you following someone else's plan?" Simian asked.  
"Yeah, that ain't your style."  
"Her objectives match up with mine. We have the same goal."

Finitevus led the mercenaries through the Warp Ring, and returned to his lair. Iblis, or Sally, he wasn't sure presently, was operating the computer mounted on the opposite wall, her back to the five.

"This is your new employer."  
"Whoa, hey! Ain't that Blue's girl? Ha, ain't that ironic, right after getting that stupid fox back, he loses her."  
"I'm surprised you actually know what irony is, Scourge." Sally replied, not turning around.  
"Normally, that would make me mad. But babe, for you, I can forget it." Scourge grinned, rushing over to the squirrel, and attempting to cop a feel. "Good to see that you woke up and joined the winning team, Sally. You're gonna love this."

"Your hand is on my chest." She stated, her voice flat, and her eyes closed with exasperation.  
"Yup."  
"Your hand is on my chest." She repeated.  
"Uh-huh."  
"Your _hand_ is on my _chest._"  
"Failing to see how this is a problem."

The possessed squirrel sighed, then raised her hand, and promptly backhanded Scourge, sending him sailing into a wall. He collided with a heavy thud, and the sickening crunch of a broken rib. She had turned to face him now, her eyes open, revealing the green glow on a black background, veins standing out a little in her arms and forehead. Fire ignited around her hands as she glowered at him.

**"****There is only one that may do that to me, and another to my host. You are neither."** Iblis snarled, raising her hand and unleashing a huge torrent of flames. Scourge screamed with a mixture of pain and terror, only to be muted as the oxygen in his lungs exploded, and his flesh was seared away, leaving nothing but a charred skeleton, which crumbled to dust shortly afterwards.

"Holy crap." Predator recoiled. Simian looked more than a little disturbed too, while Frog was simply giggling.  
"Let that be a lesson to you. Scourge was a prime example of the very thing we are fighting to eradicate. I will not tolerate such foul-mindedness from any of you, am I clear?"  
"As crystal."  
"Good. Now, work with me, and your salvation will be ensured. My objective is simple, but I want to keep it secret, so for now, all I need from you three is this: Go to Mobotropolis, and cause the Freedom Fighters a little trouble. Keep them off my back, and maybe kill a few if you can, but not too many. That will be all."

* * *

In the city itself, Nicole had brought the Freedom Fighters, as well as the recently arrived Team Dark, to the Council Chamber, where the rulers of the Republic waited for them.

"What seems to be the concern, Nicole?" Charles asked.  
"And where is my sister?" Elias asked.

"Bear with me, because this is pretty huge." The artificial lynx replied. "Now, as you should know, two weeks ago, Fiona Fox returned to us, wholly repentant. However, she brought with her an ancient artefact called the Goddess' Soul. Fiona was attacked in a minor altercation upon arrival, since it wasn't certain as to who she was working for, and during this, dropped the Soul. At first, we thought nothing of it, but... Sally started getting fevers, and headaches, as well as nightmares about a three-eyed figure. It seems that... the Soul itself escaped from the artefact, and found its way into her. What's worse is that the Goddess in question is Iblis, and she seems to plan on using Sally as a vessel while she carries out her plan to raze Mobius to the ground."

"Dear gods above..." Elias gasped, as the others looked around, in various states of shock, concern, and confusion.  
"And how do you know that this wasn't simply her cracking under pressure and going insane?" Hamlin asked.  
"Because Sal couldn't fly, teleport, or create fire!" Sonic angrily cut in. "And her eyes aren't green, nor does she normally have a green stone in her forehead!"  
"Hence why I have called together all of the Freedom Fighters, as well as Team Dark of G.U.N. We are going to capture Iblis, neutralise her, and force her out of Sally's body and back into the urn."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Rosemary asked.  
"In all honesty, I have no plan." Nicole admitted. "But even then, we can't leave her flying around Mobius and burning things while she's under Iblis' spell. We need to capture her, so we'll cross the exorcism bridge when we come to it."  
"Fair enough."  
"There is one more thing I want to bring to your attention, though."

"And what is that?"  
"During our last mission, we found an ancient, sentient weapon called the Gizoid. I reconditioned him, and brought him back online. Right now, he's probably our best hope of catching Sally, simply because he has the ability to mimic any move or attack he sees or understands. I know this is rash, and without permission, but we need all the help we can get, and there was no time to debate."  
"Where is this "Gizoid?"" Dylan asked. Nicole pressed two fingers to the side of her head, and her avatar flickered for a moment.  
"He's on his way."

A few moments later, a bright flash tore through the room, as Emerl appeared via Chaos Control. He lowered himself to the ground, killing his engines, and saluted the council.

"Emerl the Gizoid, reporting for duty."  
"Er, Emerl? The Freedom Fighters aren't that sort of organization."  
"Oh, right. Sorry Nicole."  
"It's nothing to be upset over."  
"Really?" Hamlin sighed. "This is your so-called "Best chance at rescuing the Princess?""  
"Hey, I might not look like much... or act it, but I'm more than strong enough, and getting stronger!" He replied. "And if I'm not strong enough, my scanning ability will be able to work out how much power we need to out-do her. I'm ready and willing to lay down my life to help save her."

"Well... I suppose we can give him a shot..." Chuck said. "But Nicole, warn us when you find something like him next time."  
"Yes sir, and sor- hang on..."  
"What is it?" Emerl asked.  
"Something just teleported into the city. Warp Ring again. They're giving off a similar reading to Iblis-as-Sally... but it isn't her."

"Looks like Iblis is handing out powers now..." Sonic growled. "Come on, let's go get them."  
"Right behind you!" Emerl grinned, his mouthplate locking shut, and his engines firing.


	7. Chapter 7: Distractions

Chapter 7: Distractions

Side by side, Sonic and Emerl blitzed through the city streets, kicking up a sizeable wake behind them.

"You're pretty fast, newbie." Sonic grinned.  
"Thank you." Emerl replied. "But I copied your speed to do this."  
"Natch."

"Guys, hold on." Nicole suddenly interrupted. "I have confirmation of who the intruders are."  
"Well?"  
"Simian, Frog, and Predator. No sign of Scourge."  
"Oh, that's nice and easy."

"Okay, I've linked with the nanites, and now I'm locating the intruders..." Emerl mused, his optics glazing for a second. "Follow me, I found the site of blazing destruction."

His engines exploded into life, speeding off down a side street. Sonic balked, then grabbed a lamp-post, wrenching himself around the corner.

"Okay, I know you're new on the job, but we kinda sorta have to work together!" Sonic shouted after him, only to be cut off by Nicole's voice buzzing in his ear.  
"Maybe we should let him try by himself. He's more than capable, and it would be good to give him a field test."  
"You sure, Niki?"  
"Sonic, this is the Destructix." Nicole chuckled. "They can't really be lower on the list. Lightning was the only dangerous member of the team, not counting Scourge- and Scourge has, according to the medical records that Fiona gave us, become significantly weaker. Just tell him not to make too much of a mess."  
"Roger that." Sonic nodded, then looked back at the golden robot. "Emerl, don't make too much of a mess. I'll be on overwatch, and the others will catch up."  
"You got it, Sonic."

Smoke tainted the air, as they rounded a final corner, and spotted Simian, Predator, and Frog. Each of them now had the same green eyes and gemstone embedded in the forehead as Sally did, and were blasting flames around the city. Nearby buildings were smouldering quietly, with Nicole's nanites already suppressing the fire.

"So... plan of attack?"Emerl asked.  
"Attack."  
"You're speaking my language."

Emerl's mouthplate closed, his third optic opened, and all three of them lost their expressiveness. The three mercenaries had by now, noticed the newcomers, and Frog leapt forward, grinning manically. Emerl shifted back into a fighting stance, then backhanded the amphibian, sending him spearing over the road and into a building.

"Jeesh..." Predator winced. "Where the hell'd they find you?"  
"You know, I'm not really sure. Where'd you lose the fake Sonic?"  
"The boss fried him for tryin' to get hands-on with her."  
"Heh, yeah. Missin' your nudist gal-pal, blue boy?"  
"I'd be insulted if anything you ever did gave me cause to care about what you say." Sonic snarled at the hawk. "Besides, Scourge being dead is decent news, regardless."

Meanwhile, Frog peeled himself out of the building, lurching towards the standoff. His tongue shot out, and wrapped wetly around Emerl's midsection. Emerl stopped, and simply stared at the tongue, as if trying to comprehend the idea of using one's tongue in combat.

"I... I'm not even going to scan that, that's just... ugh." The Gizoid stumbled over his words, apparently oblivious to the attacker igniting fire around his hands. Frog laughed, gurgling a little, as he unleashed a barrage of fireballs, only for Emerl to slap them aside. "Don't do that. And seriously, this body is stupidly old and it was buried for most of that timespan. Is it really a good idea to try and lick it?"

His hand folded away, as the arm reconstituted itself into a hammer. He immediately swung it down onto the tongue, cause his assailant to scream and pull the injured appendage back. Or, he would have, if Emerl didn't snag it with his free hand, pulling Frog straight towards him. The hammer retracted, replaced by a replica of Bunnie's arm cannon, which he promptly unloaded into the airborne amphibian's face. He nearly crashed into the robot, but he stepped aside, his body spinning at the waist, swinging the mercenary around like a hammer, then released, allowing him to fly into the city shield.

"Next!" He shouted, turning to face the remaining two, before engaging his engines, and jetting forward. He snagged Predator's throat, and flew skywards, embedding his fist in his stomach. The hawk dug his talons into the aggressor's armour, and belched a stream of fire onto him, which quickly ran out, leaving the Gizoid's face mildly scorched. "Breathmint?"

He brought his knee up into the hawk's gut, the small fin mounted on his armour puncturing his stomach. The bird groaned, as the hammer reassembled itself, and smashed against his head. He went limp, as Emerl threw him down, and fired a Chaos Spear after him, then dropped in front of Simian.

"You're gonna pay for that, bolt-boy."  
"Try me, sarge."

The gorilla snarled, and brought his fist down on the robot, only to be swatted aside by the hammer. The ape launched a right hook, but he sidestepped the attack, and grabbed the passing fist, then folded the hammer away in order to grab the opposite hand as it followed the previous one. He smirked, pushing the Gizoid back, as he braced himself against the downward force, then started shoving back, squeezing his servos around the balled fists, starting to crush them. The ape grunted, trying to shrug off the pain, as Emerl's chestplate parted, opening up to reveal squat, slowly rotating barrel. A high-pitched whine echoed from the weapon, as a powerful yellow pulse exploded from it, badly burning Simian's torso. He groaned, and keeled over, thudding heavily against the ground.

"Next!" Emerl grinned.  
"Wow, you didn't hang about with them."  
"No sense in doing so." He shrugged, as Nicole appeared beside them, and encased the Destructix in nanite cocoons.

"I told the others to stay where they are." She said, then quickly hugged Emerl. "Good job, Emerl."  
"Th-thanks." He beamed. "I scanned them, but I couldn't replicate the fire powers. This "Iblis" is beyond my processor's understanding."  
"I see... we better regroup." Sonic rubbed his chin. Nodding, the golden robot grabbed them both, and warped away.

* * *

Back in Tails' lab, the assembled teams listened to Emerl's report.

"So, Scourge is dead?" Fiona asked.  
"Looks that way." Emerl nodded.  
"How come?"  
"Apparently, he tried to get "touchy-feely" with Iblis. She didn't take kindly to that."  
"Wow, something that we can agree with her on."  
"Yeah."  
"I don't like this." Tails broke in. "If Iblis is so strong, why send useless minions? She's after something. She's stalling us, I think."

A palpable silence fell across the room, the relatively positive outlook shattered by Tails' observation. Nicole looked out of the window, while Emerl tried to catch her eye. Sonic clenched his fist, while Fiona clasped Tails' hand, which he squeezed gently, comforting her.  
"Well then... we need to find out why." Shadow mused.

* * *

In Finitevus' lair, he and Iblis watched the proceedings through a portal that Iblis had created. The possessed squirrel was grinning quietly to herself, much to the mad echidna's confusion.

"Pardon me, Great Goddess, but isn't the loss of our minions a negative thing?"  
"Oh, no my dear doctor. It's not a bad thing at all. They did what I needed them to do, and I am grateful for that. Now, for the next little obstacle my host's friends will face... It's time my ancient enemy was allowed to stretch itself..."

* * *

Outside the city's shield, the ground rumbled, quaking, then started tearing apart. The fissure widened, and, with a bellowing roar, a huge metal fist reached up. Exposed gears and pistons strained against the pull of gravity, as the thing rose. It took the form of a massive, uneven machine, engulfed in a blazing, fiery aura, as yellow eyes gleamed from behind its face, and it roared hungrily.

Watching via portal, Finitevus grinned darkly, and looked at the levitating form of Iblis.

"Is that-"  
"Yes, Finitevus. Behold, my oldest foe, now little more than a mindless soldier at my command- The Ifrit!"  
"Your ancient enemy is a steampunk golem?"  
"Not exactly... it has a little trick up its sleeve..."  
"Then I look forward to seeing it."

The monstrous golem roared again, belching a stream of fire, steam vents spurting from its forearms and shoulders. The fire splashed against the shield, rippling over it, drawing the attention of everyone inside.

"What the frag is that!?" Emerl yelled.  
"I don't know..." Tails replied. "Sally's our mythology buff, I don't know much about it."  
"Maybe Knuckles knows something?" Amy suggested.  
"He probably does..." Fiona nodded. "But I don't think we have time to find out!"  
"Whatever it is, it's breathing fire everywhere." Sonic added. "And it's getting closer... How do we even fight it?"  
"I think we may have a solution." Rotor said, holding up a few devices. "Tails and I made these. We call them the elemental shields. The Fire Shield should be able to protect you from the heat, and then you can use long-range attacks to blast it."  
"Oh, nahce." Bunnie smiled.

"Who's doing what?" Fiona asked.  
"Bunnie, Rotor, you and those without appropriate powers should stay here and keep everyone inside the city safe, prepare for a speedy evacuation, just in case. Nicole, maintain the city shield. Sonic, Shadow, Emerl, Omega, and I will take the Fire Shields and go and attack the... thing." Tails replied. "Good luck."

Tails grabbed five of the Fire Shields, as the five attackers warped outside of the city. Immediately, a parching wave of heat struck them, and they triggered the fire shields.

"Okay, it's even uglier up close..." Sonic said. The creature finally noticed them, then roared, launching another jet of flames at them. However, the attack had no effect, absorbed easily by the shields. "Okay, so those work."  
"Yes, but they can't take much aside from small arms fire and actual fire. Don't let it hit you."  
"Roger."

The creature, seemingly frustrated, reached up, and smashed his fist down on the group, who scattered. Tails, Emerl, and took to the air, while Sonic and Shadow warped via Chaos Control. The two hedgehogs unleashed a barrage of Chaos Spears, making the machine flinch repeatedly. Omega unleashed a huge volley of weapon fire, which Emerl quickly replicated. The Ifrit stumbled, but swatted them out of the air, then smashed its arms into the ground, shaking them, flooring them. It raised one arm again, using the other for support, and moved to bring it down on them again.

"Shit, above!" Sonic shouted. Emerl and Omega leapt up, firing all of their engines, and braced themselves against the dropping arm.  
"This is bad..." The larger robot mused.  
"Don't have to tell me that! Guys, move, we can't hold it forever!"

The trio warped away, and the Gizoid followed suit, taking Omega with him. The arm crashed into the earth, cracking it.

"Man, he's strong..."  
"Give it everything you've got!" Shadow barked.  
"No need to state the obvious..." Tails replied.  
"We don't have enough time to build up a decent attack... It might be slow, but it's not that slow."  
"Use Chaos Control."  
"Tin can has a point... Combined effort, so we don't waste energy!" Sonic shouted.

The four adepts present pooled their energies, and released a wave of their own, throwing the world into a bizarre negative. Omega unlimbered his entire arsenal, Emerl warmed up his chest cannon, Shadow charged up a crimson aura around himself, Tails formed an odd, colourless flame in his palm, and Sonic span in place, building up a cyan aura of his own.

"Ready?"  
"Yes."  
"Yup."  
"Affirmative.  
"Ready."  
"Go!"

Omega opened fire, missiles and laser volleys striking the golem and stunning it. Shadow warped up to it, and unleashed a burning scarlet explosion, cracking the armour, stumbling back. Sonic blasted forward, punching through it, faster than anyone else could register, and ruining the joints in its limbs, paralyzing it. Tails jabbed his hand forward, an energy lance stabbing outwards, and slicing through its stubby legs. It collapsed, roaring angrily as its back hit the floor, and Emerl appeared overhead. A golden energy blast exploded out of the barrel, piercing the golem, and leaving it to fall limp.

Time returned to normal flow the moment they had launched their attacks, the five only noticed it now.

"Hey, that worked!" Emerl grinned. "Think Iblis is behind it?"  
"Giant fire demon thing? Who else would be?"  
"True, true. Let's get back to the city, and resume planning." Tails said.

* * *

"They appear to have killed it." Finitevus deadpanned, staring at Iblis. It bothered him- the squirrel was still grinning, despite the Freedom Fighters easily dispatching everything she had thrown at them.  
"No, they haven't."  
"They have inflicted lethal injuries and it has keeled over! How is it not dead?"  
"Doctor, you have taken your eyes off the show. The golem is a prison. In destroying it, they have released the Ifrit's full power. The whole thing is a trap- They destroy the golem, and tire themselves a little, and then the Ifrit rises to its apex, and attacks."

Finitevus turned back to the portal, watching as the ruined armour broke open, and a reptilian head, encased in craggy stone armour lifted out of it. The head was supported atop a long, swan-like neck. Overly long, clawed arms propped it up, while a huge, barbed tail rose up behind it. It screeched- the noise sounded a little like a strangled vulture, as flames engulfed its entire body. It rocked back into its stubby hind legs, holding its arms up, as huge, then membranes extend from it. Its sallow eyes opened, and it screeched again, as the Ifrit rose into the air, flying towards the city.


	8. Chapter 8: From Bad to Worse

Chapter 8: From Bad to Worse

Finitevus cackled madly, as the Ifrit swooped towards Mobotropolis. The five turned, recoiling, and Omega immediately fired a full salvo of missiles at it. They slashed from their tubes, spiralling after the monster. However, as they drew near, the casings began to melt, and the rockets exploded before they even made contact. The Ifrit shrieked, and exhaled a torrent of fire from its jaws.

Even through the Fire Shields, the team felt the heat, wiping sweat from their brows. As the stream halted, the generators for the Shields sparked, and then died, and they collapsed, bodies smoking slightly. The ground around them had been completely immolated, scorched black. The Ifrit turned its attention back to the city, and landed on the shield, scrabbling with its claws to gain purchase.

"How hot was that thing's attack?" Sonic groaned.  
"It completely overloaded the shields..." Shadow replied.  
"Guys, my vision's getting fuzzy..." Emerl stated.  
"Overheating..."

"Guys, try and get to the other side of the city, further away... I have a plan." Tails said. "There's nothing more we can do, aside from this..."

Tails vanished, the remaining quartet broke into a run.

* * *

Back inside the city, people screamed, running towards the opposite exit to the beast. Tails landed himself on a rooftop, and flew towards his lab. Fiona, Nic, and Lightning were there, along with Nicole, who herself was suffering from the heat on her nanites.

"Tails..." Fiona said. "What's going on?"  
"We killed the robot, and it turned into an incendiary wyvern." Tails replied. "Nicole, open the Ultimatum Vault."  
"Alright." She nodded. The three former bounty mercenaries watched with surprise, as what previously looked like a completely ordinary wall slid open, revealing a corridor inside, illuminated by a faint green glow. Fiona ran up to his side, and looked in to see the source: Emeralds. Scores upon scores of glowing green jewels, emitting the familiar warmth of Chaos Energy. They were arranged on shelves, in racks of seven one of which was being removed by Tails.

"I thought all but one of the green Emeralds ended up in the Void with Feist." She said. Tails turned to her, and smiled.  
"They did. These are synthetics that I made myself, mostly as a power source. They're charged from my own reserves, and, theoretically, I could burn up the entire energy stock of one set to go Super. I think we might need it to kill that thing."  
"What do you mean "theoretically"?"  
"Well, there's a small chance that it won't work properly, and I'll lose control of the form. After that, there's no telling what will happen."  
"Tails..."  
"Fiona, it's a choice between possible death if I try it, and certain death if I don't."

"No, listen to me." Fiona cut in, grabbing his hands. "Before you go, Tails... I need to tell you something."  
"Fi, you already apologized."  
"No, Tails... I..." She slipped her arms around his shoulders. "I love you."

Tails' eyes widened, and he placed the set of synthetic Emeralds down, before returning the embrace.

"I love you too." He replied, pulling her into a soft kiss.

* * *

Outside, Sonic's team collapsed against the shield. Omega was barely functional, and Emerl not far behind. Then, the shield flickered, and faded away, allowing the Ifrit access. It screeched triumphantly, and started building a massive fireball between its jaws, only to be lanced through the stomach by a crimson beam. The charging blast exploded in its mouth, knocking it off-balance. A gold blur blasted upwards, shredding through one of its wing membranes.

"What is that?" Shadow groaned.  
"Zooming in..." Emerl replied. His optics increased magnification, and he locked onto the new figure. "Enhancing... Sunova- it's Tails! He's levitating and his eyes are red!"  
"He's gone Super? How is that possible without all of the Emeralds?"  
"I don't know."  
"I am scanning the scrap out of that! Whoa, he's being pretty brutal... and he looks _pissed._"  
"That's never good."

* * *

Above the city, Super Tails landed on the back of the falling monster, and triggered Chaos Control, shifting them both outside of the city limits, several miles up. He then warmed up another Chaos Lance, stabbing through the creature's chest. It started falling, and the fox dove through the wound, ripping, tearing at anything he passed on his way through. Magma oozed from the Ifrit's injuries, as he turned, and flew straight into its mouth, tearing out of the back of its head.

The flames covering the Ifrit's body extinguished, and it plummeted to the ground, its limp body solidifying into brittle stone before it hit, shattering into fragments. Tails let out a heavy sigh, and vanished, reappearing in front of his scorched teammates.

"You okay?" He asked.  
"I could ask the same of you." Sonic said. "How are you doing that?"  
"Synthetic Emeralds."  
"Oh, nice." Emerl nodded.  
"We thought you were losing it for a second, there."  
"No, I was just fighting harder to stop it from reaching or falling on the city. The synthetics burn up pretty quickly, and..."  
"You and Fiona got together." Emerl cut in.  
"W_h_**a**t?!" Came the collective response. "How did you..."  
"Easy. You're blushing, for one. You're giving off pheremones, for two. Third, you've got lip balm on you, which you weren't wearing earlier, and fourth, even if I hadn't noticed you two being very close earlier, you've got her scent on you. Fifth: Niiiice."  
"Did he just gain the ability to Sherlock scan?"  
"Scanning's my thing." Emerl smirked. "I'm built to analyse and understand things."  
"Ah..." Super Tails, triggering a wave of Chaos Heal, regenerating Sonic and Shadow's burns. With that done, they hoped over the city boundary, and headed back in.  
"How was it?" Sonic asked.  
"Pretty good, until Nic decided to start applauding. Chaos... if Fiona could kill with a look, Nic would've melted."  
"Cool."

* * *

The heroes regrouped in Tails' lab, Fiona now huddling up with the returned-to-normal Tails, while Nicole took the floor.

"I have good news." She announced.  
"About what?"  
"Iblis."  
"Oh, really?"

"Yes, I did a little research, borrowed Sally's books, etcetera, and found the identity of our fiery friend: The Ifrit."  
"Ifrit?"  
"Yes. Ifrit was the ancient enemy of Iblis, possibly of demonic origin- it was certainly described as such by the cultures that worshipped Iblis." Nicole explained. Anyway, Ifrit was her equal, the two fought at a stalemate for millennia, until eventually, Iblis defeated Ifrit by luck, and sealed it into the armour of a giant golem, and cast it into a fiery pit."  
"So...?"

"I get it..." Tails nodded. "The Ifrit is as strong as Iblis... but I defeated the Ifrit with a single Super form."  
"Exactly!" Nicole grinned.  
"So we could defeat Iblis and exorcise her now!" Sonic beamed. "Let's do it!"  
"Don't get too excited, we need a plan." Fiona said.  
"Sure, right." Sonic nodded. "What's the plan?"  
"Sonic, Tails, Shadow, and Emerl will go. Sonic will go Super, and challenge Iblis. Tails will assist him, ready to take over if Iblis is too strong." Nicole began. "Shadow and Emerl will be there to deal with any minions."  
"I like it."  
"Then let's go. Sonic, I'll get you an Emerald set. Everyone else, be ready, in case this goes south."

Tails got up, and fetched another rack of Emeralds, while the others prepared themselves. Sonic eagerly grabbed the stones, and absorbed them, preparing himself to go Super. Tails turned to Fiona, and hugged her tightly.

"I'll be back in one piece. Promise." He said.  
"You better be, Flyboy." She smiled, pressing something into his palm. He looked down at it, and realised that it was Fiona's Warp Ring. "You're going to need transport back and forth from Iblis' lair."  
"Thank you."  
"You're welcome." The new couple kissed once more, then parted, Tails joining his team, and Fiona nodding at him.

"How are you going to find her, even with the Warp Ring?" Rouge asked.  
"I might not be able to copy Iblis' powers, but I can still trace them." Emerl said. "Give me the ring, and I'll bring us in."  
"Bon... Allons-y, then?" Antoine smiled.  
"Yup." Sonic nodded, his eyes glowing crimson. "Let's roll!"

* * *

In her lair, Iblis tented Sally's fingers, smirking to herself, while Finitevus watched, incredulous.

"How can you still be positive about this?" The echidna demanded.  
"Because they're walking right into my trap."  
"Trap?"  
"I need either the hedgehog or the fox to complete my plan, and my host would prefer the hedgehog. I needed to get them into a position where running wasn't an option, so I decided to lure them into a state where they would believe that I can be defeated by them. They challenge me, I take the hedgehog, my plan continues."  
"But... what about the Ifrit? If that's your equal, then they _can_ defeat you!"  
"You'd think that... but in all actuality, I drained much of Ifrit's power to defeat it, and had that struck off the books. I even got my mental powers from it. The Ifrit they fought was much weaker than the one I did. Now, I need to commune with Sally, so I'll take my leave."

Iblis turned, and slipped into another room. As she did so, the squirrel's sclerae turned white again, though her irises remained green. Sally sighed, in control of her body again, and felt the weight of Iblis' coils on her body again. She smiled, levitating herself to give the sense of relaxing in her imaginary prison.

"Hello again, my dear host." Iblis hissed.  
"Almighty Iblis..."  
"You will be getting the reward for your loyalty soon, Sally. Sonic is coming, and when he does, he will become like you. However, you must give one more thing before you receive him."  
"What is that, my Almighty Iblis?"  
"I need to use your body in battle. However, while I can walk, or levitate with legs, I cannot fight with them. I need to change you for a while. I'll turn you back when we're done."  
"My body is your temple, Almighty Iblis. You need not ask my permission for any alterations you wish to make."  
"Good girl." Iblis purred.

* * *

Iblis stood beside Finitevus, when the Warp Ring opened up, and the four heroes jumped out.

"Hello, Sonic." Iblis smiled, locking eyes with him. "I think we both know where this goes. You have those Emeralds, I have Sally, let's cut to the chase."  
"Good." Sonic nodded. He spread his arms, the synthetic Emeralds appearing around him. The vanished into his body again, and his fur turned gold in a blast of Chaos energy. "Not as flashy as real Emeralds, but can't complain."

Super Sonic moved towards Iblis, gesturing for Shadow and Emerl to attack Finitevus. However, Iblis snapped her borrowed fingers, lifting herself up on a column of flame. The fire licked up, and engulfed her legs, then solidified into the form of a serpentine tail, covered in brown and tan scales.

"Ah, much better." Iblis smirked, watching Sonic's horrified reaction.  
"Sonic, focus!" Tails said. "It's just a transformation, it'll wear off."  
"Sorry bro, it's just-"  
"I know. Just do it."

The two heroes rushed forward, as Iblis raised her hands and launched two jets of flame at her foes. Tails jumped back to evade, but Sonic charged through, and aimed a boost at her, only to be smashed straight into the ground by her tail. She swept the muscular appendage aside, knocking Tails off of his feet. She reared up, and fire coalescing around her fist. The hybrid drove her hand down towards the fox, who rolled aside, and hurled two Chaos Spears at her. She shrugged them off, and wrapped her tail-tip around his ankle. He jabbed his own tails into hers, but it had no affect, and she slung him across the room. He smashed into the wall, and slid down it, near to where Shadow and Emerl were attacking Finitevus.

The Gizoid teleported in front of the albino, and punched him square in the jaw. Finitevus stumbled back, but grinned, and blasted him in the stomach.

"Emerl, don't rush this." Shadow warned, hurling a Chaos Spear at the echidna. However, the shot vanished into a warp ring, which opened behind Emerl. "Damn, look out!"

Too late, Emerl tried to dodge, and was thrown to the floor. The white echidna kicked him away, and fired two dark Spears at him, sending him reeling over the floor. He scrabbled back to his feet, and opened up his chest cannon again, unleashing a quick beam. Once again, though, Finitevus redirected it- this time at the semi-conscious Tails.

Shadow leapt into the path of the blast, winding up embedded in the wall for his troubles. The Gizoid glared at the grinning echidna, lining himself up to attack again.

"You're starting to piss me off."  
"Good."

The Gizoid raced forward, only to find himself crashing through a Warp Ring, which spat him straight down into another one, the exit to which was directly above the entrance. He fell continuously, unable to time his engines enough to escape without risking serious damage, and his heads-up display quickly warned him that he was approaching terminal velocity, at which point, the entrance portal vanished, and the gold robot smashed into the ground, cracking the flagstones.

"The Nocturnus' ultimate weapon, vanquished by simply annoying it into a frenzy." Finitevus smirked.  
"I'm not done yet..."  
"Oh, I know... But you see, I myself have studied the Gizoids. The perfect blend of Chaos and technology- you were essentially the holy grail for my people. I've collected quite a few Gizoid parts, hoping to build one of my own... But I never acquired enough parts. I did manage to complete my favourite personal feature, though: The Ultimate mode. Even made my own trigger for it. I was so disappointed when I realised I would never be able to use it... but then you showed up." He ranted, reaching through a warp ring, and pulling out what looked like an access drive. He drove it into the port on Emerl's skull, enveloping him in a crimson electrical charge. He opened another ring, throwing the Gizoid through, then sent Tails and Shadow with him. "Time for a field test of my own..."

Meanwhile, Super Sonic groaned, as he was swung into yet another solid object, this time a column. He tugged at the coil around his waist, trying to free himself, only for Iblis to engulf him in searing flames.

"Your friends have already lost." Iblis grinned, piling more loops of her tail onto her opponent's body. "You aren't far behind."  
"H-how..." The gold hedgehog wheezed. "Tails beat Ifrit easily... it was your equal..."  
"Was. Past tense. I drained most of its power in order to defeat it. I am stronger than I was, and it is weaker than it was. This whole thing was one giant trap. Finitevus, if you could employ a Chaos Drain, that would be much appreciated."  
"At once, Great Goddess." He nodded.

Iblis lowered the trapped hedgehog to the mad doctor's level, as he flared black energy around his hand. He grabbed Sonic's forehead, and the hedgehog screamed, energy draining away from him. The Synthetic Emeralds fell out of him, and crumbled to dust, as Sonic's fur faded back to blue.

"Now, time for Sally to take her reward..." Iblis smiled, allowing the mind-wiped squirrel to regain control.  
"S-Sal, fight her! You're stronger than this?"  
"I may be... but I don't want to fight her. I only want to obey her. Almighty Iblis is my goddess, and I must obey my goddess." Sally replied, putting her hand on his heart again. She pulled him into a kiss, and even as he fought back, a forked tongue squeezed past his lips, and down his throat. Sonic groaned, as Sally's hand ignited, and white markings lit up on his body. His fur plunged into black, and his skin gained a deathly palor, as a green-tinged aura exploded into life around him. "Do you understand that now, my love?"  
"Yes..." Darkspine-Sonic hissed, kissing Sally back.

* * *

In Mobotropolis, Tails, Shadow, and Emerl landed with a thud, groaning.

"Why did he just send us back?" Tails asked, standing up.  
"I don't know..." Shadow replied. "Come on, let's get more of those Emeralds and warp back. Emerl?"

The Gizoid remained in his sprawled position, red sparks flashing across his body occasionally. His hand reached up, and crushed the device in the back of his head, as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Emerl, are you alright?" Tails asked. Receiving no answer, he drew closer, but paused when the Gizoid's mouthplate closed up, and all three optics opened. His pupils altered again, not fading like they normally did in battle mode, but narrowing, becoming slit shapes, as the sparks gave way to a full red aura. His optics mimicked the aura in colour, and he threw his arms wide, releasing a powerful shock wave of negative energy, and starting to levitate.

"Ultimate mode engaged."


	9. Chapter 9: Ultimate

Chapter 9: Ultimate

"Emerl?" Tails ventured, carefully edging closer to the golden droid. "Are you-"

Head snapping up to look at him, Emerl's engines triggered, launching him into the air. His arm swung forward, a crimson beam lancing out towards the two Mobians.

"Sonuva-" Shadow growled, warping the both of them out of the way.  
"What the hell is he playing at!?"  
"Finitevus stuck something into the port in the back of his head." Shadow replied. "Whatever it did, it's sent him berserk."  
"Can this _please_ stop getting worse?"  
"We're going to have to subdue him..." The hedgehog mused. "If we manage that, then Nicole can connect with him and clean his systems out."  
"Alright then..."

The Gizoid appeared over their heads, and dropped to the ground, slamming his fists towards the duo. They rolled aside, only to be knocked reeling by the resultant shockwave. His body enveloped itself in a crimson aura, and he curled himself up, blinding light ripping out him in a dome-shaped explosion.

Barely conscious after the Chaos Blast, the two laid unmoving, struggling for breath. Silently, the haywire robot looked between them, examining them with his central optic. He then turned, and began walking towards Shadow, his right arm sliding open, the hand pulling back, to allow a semi-circular blade to take its place.

As he drew near, however, his proximity alarms went off, and he pivoted at the waist, just in time to catch a missile and sling it back toward the source. Omega blasted into the air to dodge, as the other Freedom Fighters- who had arrived at the same time, scattered. The Gizoid raised his hands, energy crackling along his fingers, shooting upwards and splaying out into a barrage of Chaos Spears. He swept his arms forward, and the bolts rained down around him, striking at the assembled group.

"Whut in tarnation!?" Bunnie gasped.  
"Emerl, what are you doing!?" Nicole cried out, forming a shield around herself and her friends.  
"Guys, we've got to get Shadow and Tails out of there!" Rouge yelled above the noise.  
"On it." Lightning replied, zipping out of the shield and snatching the fallen Adepts from where they lay, bringing them back to the relative safety of the dome.

"Nicole, can you try and reach Emerl with your powers?" Rotor asked. Still shaking, the artificial lynx pointed her hand towards him, green light flowing around her digits. Her eyes closed, as she mentally reached out to touch the Gizoid's mind, only to reel back, clutching her own head. "Nicole!"  
"His... his processor is barely accessible. I almost got in, but... there was something else in there. I... I heard him screaming..."  
"Screaming?"  
"Whatever is happening to him, it's causing him terrible pain. That's what knocked me back out of there... I'll need to make a proper connection to get into his mind." Nicole elaborated, sitting herself up.

"Wait..." Amy said. "Where's Sonic?"  
"He's not here..." Nicole said. "I have his signal, but he appears to still be with Iblis. Either he's been captured or they're still fighting."  
"Either way, it's safe to say that the plan went wrong." Nic groaned. "Fi, how are the sleeping beauties?"

"They're waking up." Fiona replied. "Tails, can you hear me?"  
"F-Fiona?"  
"Oh, thank Chaos." She sighed, hugging him tightly, as Rouge and Omega helped Shadow to his feet.  
"What happened?" Antoine asked.  
"It was a trap." Shadow replied. "Iblis was a lot stronger than we thought. She took Tails out in seconds, and smacked Sonic around like it was nothing, Super or not. Finitevus also stuck something into Emerl's head. It's sent his power levels through the roof, but he's evidently lost control of those powers."  
"What happened to Sonic?"  
"Still fighting, last I saw."  
"I hope he's okay..."  
"If he starts to run out of juice, he'll warp back." Tails suggested, allowing Fiona to help him up.  
"Okay, next question, what do we do about Emerl?"  
"I can connect with him if you get me an opening." Nicole said.  
"We'll keep him busy, then."  
"Nic, I want you and Omega to keep your distance and provide covering fire. Lightning, stay back, I want you to pull anyone injured out of the fight." Tails commanded. "Fiona, stay with Lightning, patch everyone up when they need it. Nicole, position yourself as best you can for a clear shot at his head. Shadow, Bunnie, Rotor, you're with me, we're taking the fight to him as best we can. The rest of you... try to stay away unless it's absolutely necessary. If he's strong enough to put us down that quickly, then you don't have a chance..."  
"I know it's got little meaning in this case... but... be careful."  
"I will." He nodded. "Alright, Freedom Fighters... let's roll!"

Rotor's nanite armour formed around his body, as he and Bunnie took to the air. Tails, Nicole and Shadow vanished into the ether again, as Omega and Nic opened fire on the maddened droid. Spinning between the shots, he let loose a storm of energy from his chest cannon, cracking the shield and forcing the group to run for cover again. The cannon folded away, and he slammed himself into the ground again, making a beeline for Antoine and Amy. Gulping, both drew their weapons, and rolled to the side, as he unfolded his own hammer, in place of the blade.

"'Ow are we supposed to keep our distance, if 'e comes straight for us?"  
"I don't know..." Amy bodily swung her weapon into the Gizoid's face. He rolled back, his mouthplate cracked, and retaliated. Normally, Amy would've had no trouble dodging such a strike, but in his unbridled state, he pivoted faster than she could register, and launched her into a nearby building. Still turning, he faced the coyote, and retracted the hammer, his rounded blade taking form again. They slashed at the same moment, sparks flying as the weapons slid over each other. The robot spun at the waist, using the momentum to launch a blindingly-fast swipe towards Antoine, as he took his sword in both hands, and blocked the strike. The blades rang off each other, staggering both of them, allowing the canine to put a little distance between them. He lunged, jabbing forward, but his opponent parried the blow, then cut him across the chest. Crimson light shone around the curved weapon, and Antoine felt his strength fail him immediately. He sagged to his knees, glaring up at the Gizoid, which was promptly knocked away by a heavy metal fist.

"Get offa him!" Bunnie yelled, charging after the reeling droid. Before Antoine could as much as thank her, Lightning was depositing him next to Amy, as Fiona inspected him.

"He took you down in one hit... but this wound isn't enough to do that..." She said.  
"Tze blade was glowing, and it felt like all of ma strength 'ad left me..." He replied. "It must have energy-draining properties..."

"It's a Nocturnus leech blade." Nicole cut in, appearing beside them. "It does exactly what you'd expect- drains the vitality of the victim to boost the wielder. The second function doesn't work for robots, but I don't think Emerl is worried about that..."  
"It's also bloody good at cutting things, this wound is really clean-cut..." Fiona mused. "Nevermind, I'll have you fixed up in a sec."  
"Tzank you... 'Ow is Amy?"  
"She took quite the blow to the head, she'll be sitting the next few missions out, I expect. So will you."  
"I see... I just 'ope Bunnie can whether tze storm..."

Above them, Bunnie connected her metal arm with the Gizoid's neck, driving him into another building, her hand extending to crush the leech blade. Wordlessly, he ejected from his arm, replacing it with his hand, and lifted his knee towards her gut. She backed off in time to avoid having her stomach pierced by the edge of the fin at the top of his greave, but it still nicked her flesh slightly. Hissing with pain, she put her organic hand over the cut, and blasted him in the central optic with her arm cannon.

A metallic roar of pain echoed from the droid, hands flying to his forehead, as Bunnie began pumping more shots into his torso.

"Now, Niki-gal!" She shouted, a stone-grey copy of the lynx's form appearing from the building behind Emerl. Reaching out, she tried to drive her fingers into the port, but found the stump of the virus-drive embedded in it.  
"Hang on, just a second.." She called. The lapine cyborg nodded, continuing to fire on the reeling android. Nicole's claws lengthened, thinning until they resembled tweezers, as she tried to free up the port. "Almost... almost... got it!"

Tugging the offending remains free, her opposite index and second fingers merged, forming a drive of their own. She lined herself up, but the Gizoid spun at his midriff again, hammer forming and tearing a gouge in the building, forcing Nicole to retreat as her temporary body was destroyed. As the spin stopped, he fired his chest cannon again. Flying back, Bunnie dropped under the beam, and opened fire again. Her shots bounced off of a crimson shield, as he pointed down, causing the beam from his core to curl under itself, racing back towards her. She flew closer, into melee range again, forcing him to warp away before he blasted himself again. She dodged it, and opened up a comm-channel to the others.

"Gahs, he don't lahke havin' his own attacks redirected at him. Hittin' the third optic hurts too."  
"Noted." Nic's voice echoed back. "Trying to spot him now. I'll snipe it as soon as I get a shot..."  
"Nic, behind you!" Shadow yelled.

Whirling around, Nic spotted her target, holding a rather large energy orb over his head. He pitched it towards her and Omega, who responded by grabbing Nic and flying away from the building they were using as a vantage point.

"Target possesses superior speed, agility, and firepower. Stationary sniping: Ill-advised."  
"Don't hafta tell me twice, shiny." Nic sighed. Omega's other arm extended a gatling gun, and let loose a rapid volley of shots, ignoring the fact that what had just been their foothold was now a smoking ruin. Like Bunnie's cannon blasts before, the bullets bounced harmlessly off of his shield, and he responded with another energy beam, driving both GUN agents into the dirt. He dove after them, only to be intercepted by Rotor, taking a punch hard enough to shatter the remains of his mouthplate. To the walrus' surprise, the Gizoid expressed neither a sadistic smile or a bestial snarl, he simply maintained an emotionless, neutral look. His hand snapped out, fingers closing around his thick throat, Rotor responding with another bone-shattering punch. Unflinching, he jabbed his fingers into the armour's chest, causing it to explode into a cloud of nanites. He released the walrus, hurling him downwards, as the nanites began to reshape themselves. Shadow warped Rotor to safety, hurling two Chaos Spears at Emerl in the same motion. They exploded against his shield, leaving him unharmed, and able to finish his creation- a hail of metre-long, centimetre-thick metal arrows. He raised his hand, and clenched, sending them streaking towards the ground all around the nearby area.

The scores of shafts exploded into their constituent nanites, then reformed themselves into a thick tendril, which lashed up and coiled around his midriff, pinning his arms. Nicole appeared in front of him, eyes glowing brilliantly.

"This ends now..." She hissed, a second monochrome copy appearing behind him. She jabbed into the port, only for his head to spin, snapping her fingers. Wincing momentarily as she felt her second body's pain, the lynx faltered, allowing the Gizoid to shatter his prison. With his back to her, she disconnected her mind from the second body, and commanded it to latch onto him as she attempted the connecting herself. Both were thrown back, the red shield expanding out from his core in seconds. He whirled, and drove his fist through the stomach of her constructed body. She cried out, dissipating both bodies, as he swung his hands towards the team again. The tendril lurched, arcing over his head and absorbing the nanites that Nicole had previously occupied, surging towards them.

Something slashed across his back, cutting through the outer shell of his jetpack and damaging the systems within. It exploded, throwing the attacker away and sending him straight down into the dirt. The tendril collapsed, raining harmlessly down on the city, as he forced himself upright again, glaring up at the attacker. Tails stared back, before warping out of view. He rematerialised behind the Gizoid again, this time facing the scarlet barrier. Undaunted, he reached into his back, and planted a proximity mine below the shield's curvature, warping away as it exploded. While the barrier absorbed the damage, it did nothing to weaken the force, leaving the robot to be sent pinwheeling into the air, straight into the arc of an overhead axe kick from Shadow. He speared downwards, before being swatted back into the air by Tails. The two Mobians warped together, forming a roiling orb of Chaos between themselves, firing the combined attack at the droid. His chestplate opened once more, the cannon firing once again. The beams crashed together, neither giving an inch, until the gold robot thrust his hands forward and fired a pair of smaller beams straight at his foes.

Unable to dodge or defend, both fighters were stabbed through the shoulder by the attack. Their beam faltered, allowing the Gizoid's to push through, thundering between them. It curved around, looping back to strike the Mobians, leaving them to crash into the ground once more. Twisting again, it tore towards the exhausted group, the red glow filling their vision. A hexagonal lattice of energy appeared between them and the oncoming attack, supported by Bunnie and the restored Nicole. They strained, trying to hold themselves together as the Gizoid's shot poured onto their relatively paltry defence.

"Gahs... run!"  
"Can't... hold it any longer!"

Once again, the Freedom Fighters scattered, as Nicole warped herself and Bunnie away and the beam tore the ground where they had stood apart. The Gizoid charged towards them, mimicking Sonic's speed, aiming his claws at anyone in his path. Sidestepping, Bunnie extended her nearer leg, tripping the robot and sending him rolling into Omega's legs. The larger robot smashed his open hand down onto him, holding him in place.

"Quickly, digital forest creature. Hack him." He said. Raising an eyebrow at his description, she nevertheless approached, trying to gain access to his head again. "Wait, stay back. Chaos Blast triggering!"

A small explosion threw Omega and Nicole back, as the Gizoid righted himself then surged forward into a spindash, shearing the huge gunner's right arm off in the process. He grabbed the severed limb, then stabbed its taloned end into his back. Omega stumbled, supporting himself on his good arm, turning his head to see his attacker open up again. This time, however, Shadow appeared behind him, and unloaded a Chaos Spear into his back. He spiralled away, scraping over the ground and carving a deep furrow.

"Why haven't you hacked him yet?" Shadow demanded, reaching for his inhibitor rings.  
"Every time I get a good shot, he throws that shield up. You'll have to pierce it before I can make my move."  
"Oh, I'll do that alright..." The ebon hedgehog snarled. The gold bracelets fell away, and a violent red aura exploded upwards around him. He vanished, reappearing over the unsteady Gizoid, and let loose a massive Chaos Blast, straight down.

The explosion stabbed into the ground, breaking it open and melting the nanites as he packed every last drop of his energy reserves into the attack. His aura faded, and he dropped to the ground, his inhibitors reappearing on his wrists.

"Agh... that hurt..." Nicole groaned.  
"Did it work, though?" Rouge asked. For a few moments, they waited, watching the smoke billow up from the crater. Then, slowly, it faded, revealing the Gizoid's flickering, but still very-much-functional energy shield.  
"No way..."  
"Oh, we are _so_ screwed..."

The Gizoid stalked over to the exhausted Shadow, reforming the hammer, and swung it into his temple, knocking him flat-out. He turned back towards the others, and continued walking, heading towards them.

"Well, there is some good news..." Rotor wheezed from where he lay. "He appears to be running low on energy. He probably needs a recharge and a repair, so he's focusing on incapacitating us all before dealing the death blows..."  
"It must be taking a lot of energy to keep that shield up..."  
"I have the feeling that he'll give up the ability to use his right arm before he lets that drop."

In a flash, Tails appeared in front of the group, facing Emerl. Bruised and battered from the punishing energy beam, he panted for breath, supporting himself with his namesakes.

"Tails, don't!" Fiona cried out. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"  
"No... I know what I'm doing..." He said, colourless fire appearing around his hands again. The Gizoid's chestplate opened again, the cannon barrel extending forward, a low hum indicating that another shot was charging up. Taking a deep breath, the fox drew his arm back, then thrust it forward, the Chaos Lance stabbed forward. It clashed against the crimson shield, buckled for a moment, then burst through it, impaling him through the midsection. The barrier collapsed, as the robot finally sank to his knees.

Seizing her chance, Nicole warped forward, and finally connected to him. He jolted, trying to twist away from her, to no avail. His body seized up, then went limp, as Nicole formed her own barrier around them both, and Tails fell back into Fiona's arms.

"Now all we have to do is wait..."

***

For Nicole, bridging into her wayward friend's processor was a surreal experience. The world around her faded to white, her own body reshaping itself to resemble a purple Gizoid below the neck. Her captive seemed to fade from her arms, while below her, something took shape.

It was a city, a truly massive one, floating atop a huge black rock in an endless murky expanse. All of the buildings in the city were black or grey, with blue energy lines flowing everywhere. She descended, nearing the city, and as she did so, she realised that it was cracked in the middle, and beneath it seemed to be a brilliant crimson aura.

"_This... must be Nocturne itself..._" She mused. "_And I'll bet that the lightshow is where I'll find his core..._"

Diving down, she passed through the crevasse, dropping into the red-lit area below. To her surprise, but maybe not disappointment, here was nothing there but a white expanse and a glowing energy cage with Emerl trapped inside it. He was restrained, but squirmed against his bonds, screaming noiselessly all the while. He even seemed to be stopping for breath, oddly.

"_Emerl..._" She gasped. "_Hold on, I'll have you out of there in a second._" She rushed forward, but the cage glowed brightly, and a new shape grew upwards from it.

The newcomer looked almost identical to Emerl. However, its armour was black, its crest and accents golden, and it had red rings around its main optics. All three opened, glowing the same crimson as the Ultimate mode's had in the physical world. The metallic growl rumbled from within it, as a fiery aura exploded upwards, and it raced toward the lynx.

"Alright then... if that's how this is going to go..." She snarled, a glowing lance and shield forming in her hands.


	10. Chapter 10: Freedom

Chapter 10: Freedom

Far away from the city, Iblis, Darkspine-Sonic, and Finitevus stood outside a magnificent temple, bodies of the guardians scattered around them.

"Why are we here?" The hedgehog asked.  
"This, Sonic, is the last stop on our journey. Within this temple is the so-called "Tomb of Iblis". We're going to open it, and restore me to my rightful form."  
"And then Sally will be in control of her body again?"  
"Yes."  
"Then let's get that tomb open already."

Stepped through the doors, they were faced with a gargantuan statue of Iblis' serpentine form, sitting on a black throne. One pair of arms gripped the arm rests, the other two stretched outwards, palms facing upwards. Embedded into the rocky chair was a door, sealed shut with no apparent way to open it.

"This is what I need you for... the statue's upper hands are torches, which must be lit by your Chaos fire." Iblis explained, gripping Sonic's shoulders. "And yes, it does have to be you. I could've taken the fox, or gone for the echidna, I decided to reward the sacrifices that Sally made to ensure my perfect world, and take her hero."  
"Thank you, my Goddess..."

Darkspine-Sonic stepped forward, and raised his hands towards the statue's. White fire streaked from one to the other, igniting the torches. Murals dotted around the room, depicting ancient Mobians worshipping Iblis, along with another figure wreathed in darkness, as they appeared to descend from the sun, illuminated at the same moment, as a deep, earthy rumble shook the room. Looking down to the door, it slowly slid away with the sound of stone grinding over stone, revealing a small passage, lit by more white torches.

"Excellent work, Sonic. Sadly, Sally and I must do the rest of this alone." Iblis purred, walking past him and into the tunnel. It was small, descending into the ground below the temple. At the base was a small room, with a simple altar at the back. In the centre sat a glowing orange orb, about the size of a Mobian's head, which flickered in the gloom. Iblis picked it up, ignoring the burning heat of the artefact on her stolen fingers, held it above her head, then began to chant in the ancient language of her long-dead followers, her voice devolving more and more into a malevolent hiss as she spoke. She felt the stone tugging on her, trying to pull her from Sally's body, and she smiled, letting it take her. Sally immediately took over the incantation, and, once Iblis had been drawn entirely into the orb, a stream of fire erupted from the top of it. She groaned, crumpling to her knees, but a few moments later, the heat of the orb faded to nothing, the noise of the surging flame died away. The squirrel's arms fell to her sides, her her lolling downwards from exhaustion.

Then, the familiar feeling of warm, muscular coils returned, curling tightly around her slim form, lifting her off the ground. She opened her eyes, and found herself looking at the massive, serpentine form of Iblis, the same one she had seen in her vision earlier that day. She was easily twice the size of a regular Mobian snake, and she smiled warmly at the princess, reaching one of her hands down to stroke her muzzle.

"Al-almighty Iblis?"  
"Yes, my little servant... I have returned to form, and it is all thanks to you." She purred, squeezing her gently in her coils. "You have done so well... so very well indeed..."  
"Thank you, Almighty Iblis."  
"Good girl... now, shall we take you back to your partner?"  
"Oh, yes please."

Smiling, the serpentine deity turned, and slid back out of the tunnel, squeezing her bulky form through the entrance. Sonic and Finitevus looked up at her, then immediately knelt, bowing their heads.

"Rise, my followers, and rejoice, for I have become whole again." She grinned, carefully lowering Sally to the ground. She embraced Sonic, leaning against him with a happy sigh, while Iblis turned her attention to Finitevus. "Warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it, doctor?"  
"I don't see why you allow them express such pointless pleasantries. Wouldn't removing their individuality make them so much more effective?"  
"Perhaps, but I am a benevolent Goddess. Besides, in terms of losing freedom, if anyone here is going to suffer that, it is you. Sonic unlocked my body. Sally was my host. All you have done is provide disposable minions and distractions, which I have little need for now. It might be wise to consider your place before you criticize my methods, doctor." She smiled knowingly, closing all three of her eyes as she spoke. "Oh... this is a new experience for you, isn't it? Being at a disadvantage? You always had the plan to get out if you needed it... but with this..." She tapped the green stone in his forehead. "It doesn't matter how far you run, or how fast... I will always be with there to bring you crawling back. Do you want to be part of my new world, or burn in the fires that cleanse this one?"

Within Emerl's processor, Nicole crashed against the ground, weapons falling from her grip, the black Gizoid hovering over her. Growling, it dropped towards her, claws first. She rolled aside, two blades appearing in her hands. It turned, a pair of curved energy blades forming around its forearms. It lunged at her swinging both of its weapons down. Blocking with her left blade, she jabbed the right into its stomach. Focus lost, the blades faded, at the maddened Gizoid lurched back, hand clapping to the damaged area. Much to her shock, blood oozed from behind its fingers.

"It's... alive?" She mused, pausing for a moment to stare. That proved to be a mistake, as the robot lunged again, ramming into her. Grasping her shoulders, it lifted its knee into her stomach, the bladed fin stabbed through her armour and piercing her stomach. She reeled back, as the gold accents on its body turned purple, and a pair of swords, just like her own, appeared in its hands. It raised them to strike, pointing both of them at her torso. Regaining her senses, Nicole smashed the pommel of her sword into its face, shattering the faceplate. Beneath it, she saw not the expected smooth white face, but the jaw of a Mobian, covered in brown fur and lined with sharp teeth. It backed off, spitting fragments of the plate out, as she stood again.

Spinning its swords around for a second, it rushed forward, slashing at her throat with one weapon. She knocked the weapon aside, shifting to evade the second strike, then triggered the engines of her new armour, tackling it. She flew upwards, braking sharply to launch it upwards. It righted itself, diving down towards her, driving its blades forward. Jinking to the side, Nicole stabbed it through the jetpack, pulling away as quickly as possible. The resulting explosion hurled the Gizoid back into the glowing pit, where it crashed into the ground and stood up. Storming after it, she tore past, cutting its side open. It stumbled, but raced after her. Turning, the jinked again, and severed the droid's forearm with an upward slash, turning into a vicious cut across its central optic.

Dropping its remaining weapon, it clutched at the ruined sensor, roaring with pain, staggering backwards. With the plate gone, the reaction sounded almost feline, and much higher than before. Nevertheless, she stepped forward and drove one of her blades into its chest.

Impaled, the Gizoid stumbled again, but managed to stay upright. It twisted, wrenching the hilt from her grip. Its still-functioning hand grasped the hilt, and tore the blade out, ignoring the blood flow. To her surprise, the outer armour of its head began to fall away, as a row of purple chevrons appeared on its torso, forearms, and shins. Beneath the armour, as she had begun to suspect, there was a Mobian face. The real surprise was exactly whose it was. Hers.

The sharp teeth and the hungry, feral look were new, but she new her own appearance. The Gizoid's hair was neat, tied back in a tight bun, supported by two long hairpins, and her eyes were crimson, but it was her, regardless of how much she wanted to forget that identity. It made sense now- the Gizoid had the ability to assimilate the powers and skills of others. In here, it could even copy appearances, it seemed, and the powerful, dominant, invasive virus that Emerl had succumbed to wasn't defending itself, it was trying to infect her as well. When it broken her defences for that moment, it had gained access to her memories. Regardless of its feral attitude and frenzied attacks against her, it had shown itself to be an intelligent and adaptable fighter in the outside world. It knew about Iron Nicole, and it knew about her issues surrounding that, so it was copying her form to try and put her off. It was sorely mistaken.

Nicole charged, lashing out with her remaining sword, as her counterpart tucked her arm behind her back, and parried the strike. Shoving back, it lunged again, swinging madly at her. Sidestepping, she turned on her heel and drove her sword straight through the Iron Nicole-Gizoid-Hybrid's head. It screeched for a moment, then went limp, collapsing and fading away.

"Phew... okay... it's over." Nicole sighed, turning back to Emerl's cage. The red light around them both faded, and the cage flickered, disintegrating bit by bit, letting the golden Gizoid fall out. She rushed over to his side, cradling her friend's slowly reactivating body. "Emerl... Emerl are you okay?"

"Nnngh... Nicole?" He wheezed. Nicole raised her eyebrow at the idea. As a robot, Emerl shouldn't have needed to breathe, so wheezing was right out. Still, the Ultimate virus took the form of an organic inside the armour, and she was currently in the same state. Maybe Emerl was the same in here.

"I'm here, Emerl." She replied, helping him sit up.  
"Oh... thank Chaos... the pain's gone... Did you do that?"  
"Yes. I deleted the Ultimate virus that Finitevus stuck you with. You should be fine now, and I think your Ultimate powerset should be intact."  
"Thank you, Nicole..." He said, his mouthplate clicking open to give her a smile. Like their mutual counterpart before, he had a Mobian's mouth beneath it, not his normal face. The fur was white, the teeth looking suited for a feline of some sort.

"You're welcome, Emerl, but... your mouth..." She said. "It's organic.."  
"Yeah... hang on a sec." He said, sitting upright. He reached up to his head, which seemed to hinge open at the top. It pulled away, revealing the rest of the face underneath. His eyes were blue and wide, his fur yellow, bar the white muzzle, and he had a messy mop of ginger hair. The tips of his ears were the same colour, and he smiled. "I... remember now. Getting my mind unlocked restored most of my memories. This is what I used to look like."  
"Oh, I see."

"I still don't remember my name, but I know that I'm a serval. That city above is Nocturne, home of the Nocturnus, a splinter faction from the Dark Legion."  
"I guessed that."  
"Right, well, the Gizioids were the Nocturnus' not-so-secret weapon. Unflinching robotic killers, able to copy their enemy's attacks... they were terrifying."  
"I can imagine."  
"The terrifying thing, though... was the later ones. Like me. They made us by taking Mobian prisoners, either highly skilled captured warriors, or Adepts, or both, roboticized them, and transplanted their sparks into a Gizoid shell, then wiped our memories and shoved the Ultimate program into us."  
"Oh my... that's horrifying..."  
"I know..." Emerl nodded. "I agreed. I was angry, hateful, scared at the time. I knew they'd robbed me of something. I just... triggered the Ultimate mode and... I wiped them out."  
"Oh..."  
"I know it was wrong... but I couldn't stop myself. Eventually I just ran out of power, crashed into the desert, and, well, that's where you found me... and taught me to live as a Mobian again..."  
"No, it's not that..."  
"Then what is it?"

"I used to be a Mobian too." She admitted. He stared at her, incredulous.  
"Really?"  
"Yes. I was Sally's closest friend as a child... but Robotnik kidnapped me, and... after that it's kinda the same with you. I was roboticized, my mind was transferred into a computer body, and I got mind-wiped."  
"This Robotnik sounds like a nasty piece of work."  
"He was. I was responsible for the mind-wipe, though. Turns out that I was the daughter of a powerful telepath, and I'd inherited his powers. I didn't realise at the time, he died in the early days of the Great War, and I was too young to realise that he had those abilities... It was those that Robotnik wanted, in an easily-controllable state. I used my powers to alter the memories of all parties, so no-one would miss me, then wiped myself so I wouldn't be tempted to misuse my abilities..."  
"That's awful..."  
"I know... Sonic and Sally discovered the truth later, and helped me become me again..."  
"When did this happen, and what happened to your mother?"  
"I was changed seventeen years ago, and Sonic and Sally found the truth about me several weeks ago, almost a month now." Nicole explained. "As for my mother... I'm looking for her... but I don't know how I'm going to explain everything to her."  
"I'll help you."

Nicole smiled, squeezing his hand, causing his cheeks to turn red. He gulped, scratching his head, then looked back at her.

"Uh... before we go back to the land of the living..."  
"Hm?"  
"I need to tell you something."  
"Oh, go right ahead."  
"I... I'm... I..."  
"Emerl?"  
"I'm in love... with you." He admitted, blushing crimson.  
"You do?"  
"Yes... I..." He looked down at the ground, drawing a circle in the dust with his finger. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that..."  
"No... I..." Nicole began, blushing herself. "When we were chatting before I brought you back online, I... felt a connection that I haven't felt with anyone before. The only thing I could equate it to was something I felt when Sally and I briefly swapped bodies."  
"Uh..."  
"It was about Sonic."  
"Oh..._Oh._" He said. "So what you're saying is-"

He was cut off when Nicole kissed him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Surprised for a moment, he closed his eyes and cradled her, holding her close.

"I love you too."

***

In the damaged city sector, Nicole's shield bubble faded, and the group turned to see her helping Emerl stand.

"Are you two alright?" Tails asked.  
"We're fine. The Ultimate program has been deleted."  
"Guys, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself..."  
"It's alright, you weren't in control of your actions." Rotor said.  
"You're no more to blame for this than Sally is for what Iblis does." Amy added.  
"Yeah, we deal with this kahnda thang every other month or so." Bunnie shrugged.  
"If people can forgive me, they'll forgive you." Fiona smiled.  
"Thank you..."  
"You're welcome."

"We're going to need to report what happened to the council, unfortunately." Nicole sighed.  
"You can count on my support, but the others might be a harder sell."  
"Then we'd better go and get it done, so we can get back to rescuing Sally."  
"Sonic's Super form will have run out by now." Shadow mused. "He likely needs saving too."  
"Alright then..." Tails said. "I'm going to go and mull some things over."  
"Want me to come?" Fiona offered.  
"No... I'll be alright. You've got Ant and Amy to look after."  
"Okay hon, catch you later." She hugged him, before he warped away with Chaos Control.

***

Nicole, Rotor and Emerl headed for the Council Chamber together, discussing the events inside Emerl's processor.

"That's a fascinating story." The walrus said, rubbing his chin. "I didn't realise that there were Roboticizers before Sir Charles and Robotnik made theirs."  
"They probably had very different systems." Emerl replied. "I doubt a Nocturnian Robian would look anything like a modern one."  
"True, true. The ever-changing face of science and all."  
"Yes."  
"Congratulations on getting together, too."  
"Thank you." Nicole smiled, grabbing Emerl's hand.  
"What's the betting that they'll want me to be shut down?"  
"Hamlin will. The others are unknowns at this point, but if it's a tie, which it often is, then I think we can rely on Elias' mercy."  
"Okay, good."

***

Tails arrived back in his home, and flopped down onto the couch, head in his hands.

"Now what do I do?" He sighed, his body glowing slightly as his energies healed the wounds her had taken during the battle. Heavy footsteps sounded behind him, and he turned to see his father approaching, a concerned look on his face.

"What's the matter, son?" He asked, sitting next to him.  
"I... I don't know if I can do this..." The golden fox replied. "The team needs a leader... and I'm not that."  
"What happened?"  
"I made two plans, and both of them almost got everyone killed."  
"That's nothing to be ashamed of." Amadeus replied. "It happened to me, and it happened to Sally. You've been thrown in the deep end, and well, did anyone actually die?"  
"No."  
"Well there you go. What happened anyway?"  
"I thought that, because the Ifrit- the big dragon-thing- was Iblis' ancient enemy, then something that could kill it could defeat her, but she had gotten stronger, and the Ifrit weaker..." He said. "And because of that, Sonic's been captured, and Emerl got afflicted with a virus that turned him berserk, and my plan to deal with that almost got Antoine and Amy killed. A lot of the others took a beating too, and a whole area of city has been ruined..."  
"Could you predict that any of that would happen?"  
"No..."  
"Again, there you go." He smiled. "Son, every leader has to deal with these stumbling blocks. Everyone starts out inexperienced, and the fact that you've evidently overcome the second one is something to celebrate, right?"  
"Yeah, I guess."  
"You can do this, Miles. You can save Sonic and Princess Sally, or you can create the plan that saves them. I know you can."  
"Thanks, Dad." Tails smiled at his father.  
"You're welcome."  
"I, uh, hooked up with Fiona, before it all blew up."  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yeah. She's taking care of the injured at the moment."  
"Ah, good." He nodded. "I'm a little surprised, though. What's going on with her?"

"She says that she made a lot of mistakes, but she's here to redeem herself for them, and I believe her. It's a little interesting, really. According to Nic, she started acting like her normal self again the moment she realised how things had gone. It's like the persona she had when she was with Scourge was just a façade that she put up. She wasn't a bad person, just... lost, and I'm glad that Nic and Rouge were able to snap her out of it."  
"I see. Well, I can imagine that she needs someone like you."  
"Thanks."  
"You should bring her over for dinner tonight."  
"I'll ask her if she wants to."  
"Alright."

***

In the council chamber, Nicole and Emerl stood before the assembled council, the former preparing to mount a defence.

"Miss Lynx, can you please inform us as to why your secret weapon has destroyed a chunk of our city." Hamlin demanded, glaring at the robot.  
"It's quite simple, Councillor Hamlin." She replied. "There was a program hidden inside his system that was designed to deactivate his morality, memory, and personality cores. He was, after all, built as a weapon, so this would've been put in so that they could drop him into enemy territory and forget about the whole battle. Unfortunately, Finitevus, who is working for Iblis, was able to trigger the mode and then throw him through a Warp Ring. However, we were able to subdue him and I hacked into his mind. The program, the Ultimate Mode, worked like a virus. It tried to get into my head, but I destroyed it. The power that it granted is now safe for him to use, and I found something rather interesting in there. Show them, Emerl."

The robot nodded, his chestplate opening up to expose his spark, beating constantly.

"As you can see, he has a pulse. Constructed robots don't have that. Their cores are constant. Only Robians have this so-called "Sparkbeat. The scientists that made him took the spark of a Robian and put it in this body. He's as alive as I am, and he deserves his chance at life."  
"Still, something must be done about this."

"It doesn't matter." Emerl spoke up, closing his chestplate. "It doesn't matter what you decide to do with me. I can save Sally, rescue Sonic, and beat Iblis. I know I can, and I'm going to do it."  
"How can you be certain?"

Emerl's third optic opened, his mouthplate snapped shut, and all three of his eyes, as well as the lights on his chest and shoulders, turned yellow, an aura of the same colour appearing around him.

"Because I'm the Gizoid, the Ultimate Weapon. Doesn't matter what they do, I can do better. They've got my friend, they've got the best friend of someone I love, they've turned me into a monster, and they've tried to wipe us all out three times. I'm going to beat Iblis, and cram her back into whatever pit she came from, and there's nothing you can say or do to change that."


	11. Chapter 11: Father and Daughter

Chapter 11: Father and Daughter

Having delivered his speech, Emerl returned to the others, Nicole in tow.

"How did it go?" Rouge asked.  
"I kinda sorta told 'em that I'm not playing by their rules, I'm just going to save Sonic and Sally, no matter what they say." He replied.  
"Oh, nice!" Fiona smirked. "They need a wakeup call like that."  
"It's all well and good saying that, but how are you going to beat Iblis?" Shadow asked. "She outclasses our Super forms completely."  
"Not the Ultimate mode."  
"First off, we survived against that. Second off, have you lost your mind?! The Ultimate mode turns you into a psychopath!"  
"Not anymore, it doesn't." Emerl replied. "I'm using it now, for one thing. Second, you survived because the program was unfocused, torn between killing the easy targets, and eliminating the actual threats. Now that I can control it, I can focus its power on Iblis. Besides, there's no reason why I'd have to do it alone."  
"Very well... where's Tails?"

"Right here." The fox's voice echoed. The group turned to see him approaching, a crate of Emerald racks in his arms. Fiona rushed over to his side, and hugged him.  
"You okay?"  
"Yes, I'm fine." He nodded. "And I have a plan."  
"Well, lay it on us, Sugah."  
"This time, we're all going." He said. "Well, except Ant, Rotor, and Amy. Rotor's staying to finish dealing with the Emerl situation, and you two are too injured. Anyway, Emerl and I will take Iblis-Sally. Nicole, you're going to handle Finitevus. Everyone else, you're on backup duty. We can't be certain that Iblis won't summon minions to fight us if we bring more."  
"Very well."  
"I like it."  
"Er... isn't Nicole limited to the city?" Amy asked.  
"Actually..." Nicole smiled. "We've been working on something... Hold on."

The lynx vanished, her nanite form dispersing. A few moments later, she returned, but now her body was smoother and shinier. It looked to be made of liquid metal, the optics white with green light shining from them. Her hair was shorter, while her body was enclosed in what looked like a purple body glove with black sleeves and legs, with an open skirt around her waist, and she had purple gauntlets and boots. A glowing orb rested at the top of her sternum, shining the same colour as her eyes.

"You made yourself a body?" Antoine asked.  
"Yes, I did." Nicole smiled. "I had help, but it was just a side project while we worked on the Deroboticizer."  
"Wow... nice." Fiona nodded her approval.  
"Yeah... nice..." Emerl repeated, staring at her. Nicole blushed, playfully punching the Gizoid's shoulder.  
"So... shall we get going?"  
"I think so." Fiona held up her Warp Ring, and opened it.  
"I have a trace." Emerl announced. "Wow... her signal's off the charts... and there's three of her."  
"Three?"  
"More minions, no doubt." Antoine mused. "Good luck, mes amis."  
"Thanks."

The team took a deep breath and stepped through the Warp Ring, vanishing from Mobotropolis.

***

Stepping out into the temple, they immediately came face-to-face with the colossal statue of Iblis, looming over their heads.

"Whoa... what the hell is that meant to be?" Nic asked.  
"It's... it's Iblis." Fiona replied. "It has to be. Sally said she saw a three-eyed figure in her nightmares before Iblis took over her mind. It's her."  
"Attractive, ain't she?"  
"No, not really."  
"Let's move on quickly." Shadow broke in. "We don't want to get caught in the corridors."

"Shadow, take some of these." Tails said, pulling a rack of Emeralds from the box. He nodded, taking them, while Tails stuck his hand into the glowing box, absorbing every remaining drop of energy. A green aura appeared around him, then faded, while Shadow curled up, his fur standing on end and turning a pale gold.

"Alright then." Super Shadow grinned. "Let's move!"  
"Aren't you going to change?" Fiona asked, prodding Tails' shoulder.  
"Only if I need it. I want to conserve this for as long as possible."  
"Okay then."

"This way, guys." Emerl announced, pointing to a door on the right wall. Heading through it, it a passage unfolded ahead of them, an eerie glow flickering at the end. Quietly stepping stepping down it, the synthetic hedgehog at the lead, Emerl beside him.

Approximately halfway down, the low, rumbling laughter of the fire goddess echoed through the corridor.

"Welcome, my dear adversaries." She hissed. "We have been waiting for you. Your performance against the Gizoid was... admirable."

"That's not Sally's voice, borrowed, distorted or whatever. Either Iblis has got a new host... or she's got a body of her own." Tails mused.  
"We're going to need those Emeralds."

The passage opened out into an opulent antechamber, lined with columns and statues of the deity, with a huge depiction of the sun painted above the throne. Within it, approximately half of the circle was crimson, and the other was inky black. The throne itself sat on a raised dais, torches at each corner burning brightly. Another torch rested in the hands of each statue, maintaining the light in the room.

Iblis herself was reclining on the throne, her lower arms gripping the arm rests, the upper pair tenting their fingers. Sally was in her lap, a coil around her middle, while Finitevus stood to one side, and Darkspine-Sonic to the other.

"Greetings, dears." She hissed, a welcoming smile on her lips.

"She possessed Sonic too." Shadow groaned. "Of course she did."  
"You didn't see that coming?" Fiona asked. "I mean, she tried it when he discovered her."  
"It would've been nice if you'd told me that..."  
"I just assumed that you knew she'd do it already."

"Do you think a Super form will save you again, even after last time?" She chuckled. Snapping her fingers, the floor between them erupted in flames, creatures taking form between them. The first were quadrupeds, appearing to be hybrids of lizards and dogs. Behind them, a wave of fiery birds, and at the flanks, two rows of serpentine creatures poked out of the ground. At the very back, huge, magma golems stood, cracking their knuckles.

"Okay, new plan. Shadow, cover everyone else and keep those things off our backs. I've got Sonic. Fiona, can you take Sally? Your stronger attacks should be able to keep her down without killing her, and Bunnie's limbs will overheat under concentrated fire at melee range, while you'll be able to keep fighting as long as you keep dodging."  
"I can."  
"Emerl, Nicole, stay on your targets."  
"Got it."

"Come on, then..." Iblis purred, sliding out of her seat, two burning axes forming in her upper hands. "I'll reduce you all to ashes."

The creatures surged forward, screeching towards them. Immediately, a stream of gunfire and energy blasts opened up on them, as Tails tensed himself. Energy flared up around his body, and his eyes glowed crimson, his feet leaving the ground.

"Alright, let's move!" He called, grabbing Fiona and warping past the army. Emerl and Nicole flew after them, landing in front of the goddess' cult.

"The direct approach... I like it..." She smirked, swinging one of the axes down onto them. Scattering, the group charged for their respective opponents.

Nicole lunged for Finitevus, energy forming around her hands. The echidna smirked, hurling a black Chaos Spear at her, then jumped into a Warp Ring. Jinking around it, she turned to see him reappear behind Emerl, another drive in his hand.

"Not this time..." She murmured. Her eyes and heartlight turning lilac, a beam of the same colour lancing out of her hand. It struck the echidna, knocking him away. She flickered, vanishing out of sight. Jumping back to his feet, flared up energy around his hands again, pre-emptively opening a ring. She flashed up beside him, unleashing another energy beam before he could react, then warped out of his view again. "Annoying when you're on the receiving end, isn't it, Doctor?"

"How amusing..." He smirked. "Attempting to use my own warping tactics against me... So foolish."

He opened a ring, leaping towards it, only to be wreathed in purple energy, stopping short. He began floating away from it, whirling to face Nicole, he glared at her. The same glow was burning around her hand.

"My powers are amplified in this body." She smiled, a shining orb appearing in her hand. "Both my psionic abilities and energy projectors are enough to completely shut your particular fighting style down."

She drew her hand back, then thrust forward, a beam lancing out and blasting Finitevus. He groaned, straining against the lynx's hold, sagging as the ray faded. Swinging her arm to the side, he was dragged through the air and slammed into a wall. Teleporting again, she hovered above him, watching him struggle to his feet. He glared at her, throwing out all of the rings on his arms, hurling spears into all of them. A veritable cage of golden hoops opened around the lynx, the echidna below cackling madly. Closing her eyes, Nicole raised her hands once again, the purple aura overtaking the rings, which all turned to face Finitevus, just as the Spears burst forth.

"What the-" He gasped, cut off by the impact of his own attacks, catapaulting him through the wall into the next room.  
"You lose, Doctor." Nicole smiled, floating after him. Before she could reach the echidna-shaped hole in the structure, a flash of gold rocketed between them, crashing into the ground, scraping over it, leaving a trail of sparks behind it.

Jabbing an arm-fin into the floor, Emerl stopped himself, looking up at Nicole.

"Emerl, are you-?"  
"I'm fine." He fired all of his engines at once, surging past her and back towards Iblis. The goddess' body had a few minor scratches around the shoulders, throat, face, and chest, but most of the damage seemed to be concentrated on her left elbow, the craggy armour on her forearm crumbling in places. "But she won't be!"

Grinning, Iblis lashed out with her axes again, the Gizoid weaving between them thanks to some creative application of his jets, drawing level with the titan's head. His chest opened, cannon sliding into place.

"Emerl, below!" His head snapped down in time to see Iblis' hand close around his midriff.  
"Scrap!"

The serpent swung her arm downward, smashing her quarry into the floor, breaking it open and leaving him lying inside a crater. Snapping her fingers, the hole exploded into blue flames.

"No!" Nicole cried, firing twin bolts of energy at Iblis. The serpent merely chuckled, smacking the small lynx aside with her tail. The tip coiled around her torso, pinning her arms. Immediately, she tried to teleport, receiving another vicious swing through a column. _'Can't engage her mentally... she's a much stronger telepath than I am...'_  
"You aren't like the other Mobians, are you?" Iblis asked. "A mind as alive as any other, but a body of artificial metals... I don't think I can control you normally... maybe we should find out?"

Another of the green stones appeared in her palm, moving it towards the helpless lynx, when a golden beam lanced out of the burning crater, and stabbed into her third eye. Howling with pain, she dropped Nicole, clutching at her injured orb. Both turned to face the pit, spotting a Mobian-esque shape walking towards them within it. Emerl stepped out of the inferno, chest cannon smoking.

"Heatproofing, bitch. Let's try this again, shall we?"  
"You have a death wish, so why don't I d you a favour, and grant it?"

***

Fiona rolled away from a jet of fire, spewing from Sally's hand, and leapt back to her feet, tackling the maddened squirrel. They fell to the floor, Fiona slamming her shoulders against the stony ground.

"Come on, sugar-queen, wake up!"  
"I am awake!" Sally spat back, lifting her knee into Fiona's stomach with unnatural strength, knocking the wind from her. Forced to relax her grip, Fiona rocked back, only to feel Sally's hand close around her throat. "And if you do not want Almighty Iblis' gifts, then you can perish here!"

Wheezing, she kicked at the mindless squirrel's chest, staggering her, before being swung bodily into the floor. She grunted, her spine aching worryingly, as Sally continued to squeeze her neck, and began pumping repeated punches into her stomach. Strength fading, the vixen pulled a knife from her belt, slashing it up Sally's arm. She recoiled, stumbling away, clutching her injury.

Seizing her chance, Fiona leapt back to her feet, running forward and launching herself into a flying kick, aiming for Sally's head. The squirrel sidestepped, however, grabbing her leg and flinging her into a pillar. She rushed after her, flames igniting around her fists, jabbing at the vixen's head. Ducking, she slid to ground, planting her feet in Sally's gut and launching her away. Skidding over the ground, the squirrel dug her hands into the floor, ripping the stones up as she scraped to a halt.

"You are persistent." She hissed, a fiery aura exploding into visibility. "But you are barely capable of standing. Why don't you submit, and perhaps we will be merciful enough to let you spend your existence scrubbing the temple floors."  
"If you think I'm going to let you or that four-armed freak turn me into another mindless fanatic, you've got another thing coming." Fiona groaned, forcing herself upright.  
"Very well, you have exhausted your final warning. You will die now." Swinging her arms forward, Sally unleashed a torrent of blue fire, searing the masonry and engulfing Fiona. "Another aberrant vanquished in the name of almighty Iblis..."

When the smoke cleared, however, Fiona was still there, encased in a purple energy bubble. Nicole materialised between them, floating a few inches off the ground.

"Aren't you meant to be helping Emerl?"  
"He sent me to save you."  
"Thanks, she's a lot tougher than I thought." Fiona sighed. "Got a plan."  
"We have to keep her busy until I can formulate a method to break Iblis' mind control."  
"Easier said than done..."  
"Don't worry, there are two of us now."  
"Just... don't overheat yourself, okay?"  
"I won't, don't worry."

Behind them, another row of golems exploded into stony fragments, courtesy of Super Shadow. Below him, Bunnie and Omega stood back-to-back, cannonfire exploding at the surrounding creatures. Lightning cut several to ribbons, Nic blasting them from a distance. Rouge hovered nearby, slinging grenades and detonation packs into the horde.

"The big ones are pretty tough, leave those to me." He shouted.  
"Got it, Shadow!"  
"Tails, how are things with you?"

The glowing fox swerved, swinging past a wheel of white fire, firing a trio of Chaos Spears after it.

"Not good. He might not be as bright, or as resistant to damage as normal, but he's so much stronger and faster that those don't matter." He replied, watching the spears crash against the ground Darkspine-Sonic flying away, unhurt. "I can see his energy levels... he's packing everything into attack, and nothing into defence. A single strong enough hit will put him down, but I can't even land a hit- gah!" He finished, knocked off-balance by a sudden backhand.

"Try letting him hit you, and then retaliating!"

His tails lashed up, intercepting a blazing dash, but he was thrown aside, both appendages scorched.

"I've tried that, but he hits so hard and moves so fast that he's gone before I can recover!"

Super Tails stood, healing himself as best he could, but the burns refused to die down. Darkspine charged in again, white eyes gleaming, curling into another fiery spin as he jinked around a Chaos Lance. The wheel crashed into him, driving him into a wall. Uncurling, the hedgehog launched a flurry of explosive punches and kicks, driving him deeper into the stonework.

"Shadow! Little help!?"  
"Be right there."

Appearing in a flash of crimson, Shadow grabbed Darkspine's shoulders, and hurled him away.

"We're going to need a new plan." Shadow groaned.  
"Then I think I'll need to use the other Emeralds."  
"Other Emeralds?"  
"I brought forty-nine of them."  
"Why would you bring _forty-nine Emeralds?_"  
"Equivalent to a set of Super Emeralds."  
"Ah..."  
"Stand back."

Shadow flew back into the fight with Iblis' army, while Tails held his arms out, his aura exploding upwards. The the brilliant sheen on his fur brightened, wiping out the colour, waves of energy pulsing out of him.

Iblis stopped as the waves struck her, all three eyes widening.

"Something wrong, scaly?" Emerl grinned. The serpentine goddess ignored him, sliding closer to Tails, who smirked up at her.

"Do you any idea what you have just done?" She roared.  
"Yes, I've given us a chance to beat you." He replied.  
"No, you haven't... not with that energy form..." She glared at the Hyper form's crimson eyes. He faltered for a moment, then his eyes shrank to prinpricks. He flinched, stumbling backwards, dropping to the ground, digging his fingers into the torn-up floor. "You haven't given your friends a winning edge, you've doomed all of us..."

"Tails?" Fiona called, carefully approaching him, Sally watching carefully behind her.  
"F-Fi..." He groaned. "Stay back!"  
"Tails, what's wrong!?"  
"Your boyfriend has absorbed far too much energy from an unstable source, and he can't control it." Iblis replied. "And the energy released from him... is all too familiar."

Tails lifted off the ground, curling into a fetal position, grasping at his own head, crimson energy cracking over his body. He let out an agonized scream, his claws sharpening, ripping out of his gauntlets and shoes. His back arched, head tipping back as his muscles slimmed, leaving his body lean, as he went limp, slowly turning over. His eyes opened, Fiona trying to make contact with him, as he stared at his hands. He closed his eyes again, and slowly righted himself, a wide, toothy grin spreading across his lips.

"Tails?"

"Heh... Heh heh... Ehehahahaha! I liiiiiive!" He crowed, spreading his arms wide. His voice was higher, sharper, icy-cold.  
"What the hell happened to him!?"  
"He's been taken over... just like I took over Sally..."

Tails' eyes opened, his irises and pupils slash-like, the former still burning crimson, the latter brilliant white.

"Who is he?"  
"He's my father." Iblis replied. "Hyperion, the Tyrant Sun."

At the mention of his name, the albino fox looked down at her.

"Ah... Iblis, my dear daughter... It has been a while. I must thank you for releasing me, but now, it is time to bring all of Mobius to its knees." Hyperion hissed, turning to the other Mobians. "I have waited for so long... so long in this boy's head, feeding on his powers unnoticed, while he refused to employ them... waiting for him to finally release me...but at last, I am given form! Now, you pathetic mortals... _Kneel._


End file.
